LlBRAf'V  nr  ppifiCETON 


THEOIOGICAL  SEIVliNARY  1 


SABBATH  EVEMNG  EEADUGS 


NEW    TESTAMENT. 


S  T.    J 


0  H  ^. 


LIBRARY  OF  PRINCETC! 


1  9  2007 


BY    THE 


...ML  SEMINAR 


PtEV.  JOim  CUMMIXG,  D.D.,  F.R.S.E., 

MINISTER  OF  TUE  SCOTCE  NATIONAL  CHUECH,  CEOWN  COURT,  OOVENT  GARDEN,  LONDON. 


BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED  BY  JOHN  P.  JEWETT  AND   COMPAJSTY. 

CLEVELiVND,   OHIO  : 

JETTETT,  PROCTOR,   AND  WORTIIINGTON. 

NEW    YORK  :      SHELDON,    LAJU'ORT     AND     COMPANY. 

185G. 


CAMBRIDGE   : 

ALLEN    AND    FARNHAM,    STEKEOTTPERS    AND    TRINTEBS. 


PREFATORY  REMARKS. 


John  was  the  son  of  Zebedee  and  Salome.  His 
father  was  a  fisherman.  Peter  and  he  seem  to  have 
been  partners  and  joint  proprietors  of  the  httle  stock 
at  Bethsaida.  He  was  one  of  the  Twelve,  —  the 
disciple  whom  Jesus  loved,  —  a  chosen  witness  of 
the  transfiguration,  and  the  agony  in  the  garden. 
To  him  was  committed  the  care  of  Mary,  then  a 
widow,  and  friendless  in  the  world. 

In  the  history  of  the  Church  subsequent  to  the 
ascension,  John  appears  with  Peter,  —  sUent,  yet  full 
of  sympathy,  —  living  Christianity  as  eloquently  as 
Peter  preached  it. 

His  pen  seems  to  have  been  dipped  in  love.  His 
style  is  simple,  but  singularly  rich  in  thought.  The 
discourses  which  he  records  as  they  fell  from  the  lips 
of  Him  that  spake  as  never  man  spake,  give  its  dis- 
tinguishing pecufiarity  to  this  Gospel.  The  inner 
thoughts  of  the  Son  of  God  stream  forth  in  it, 
and  make  it  the  delight  and  the  study  of  the  people 
of  God  in  every  age  and  country. 

(V) 


VI  PREFATORY  REMARKS. 

It  is  the  last  of  the  four  Gospels. 

The  author  has  appended  to  it  a  few  remarkable 
coincidences,  which  link  together  the  Gospels  in  one  ; 
for  which  he  is  mainly  indebted  to  Blunt's  "  Scrip- 
ture Coincidences." 

He  has  also  added  an  Alphabetical  Lidex  to  the 
Gospels. 

The  Lecturer  makes  no  pretension  to  originality. 
He  gives  these  Readings  as  they  fell  from  his  lips  in 
the  pulpit,  not  for  the  information  of  scholars  or 
critics,  or  theologians,  but  for  the  edification  of 
plain  Christians,  the  instruction  of  ordinary  families, 
schools,  and  classes.  No  doubt,  mistakes  will  be 
found;  but,  instead  of  taking  offence  at  any  one 
pointing  them  out,  he  will  rather  be  more  thankful. 

May  He  who  inspired  these  holy  men  to  write 
them  on  paper,  write  them  on  our  hearts,  for  Christ's 
sake.     Amen. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

Characters  of  the  Four  Gospels.  —  Beauty  and  Excellence  of  St.  John's.  —  John's 
History.  —  llis  Relation  to  Jesus.  —  Grace  not  by  Generation  or  Sacrament. — 
Training  of  Children Page  1 

CHAPTER  I.  (Continued.) 
Missionary  Nature  of  true  Christianity. — Experimental  Religion.  —  Prejudice.^ 
Results  of  Personal  Examination.  —  Pupil  outgrows  his  Teacher.  —  Eulogy  and 
Promise  of  Jesus 9 


CHAPTER    II. 
First  Miracle.  —  A  festal  Scene.  —  Mary  present.  —  Mariolatry.  —  Vulgate  Ver- 
sion.—The   Fathers. — Water  made   Wine. — Drunkenness.  —  Cleansing   the 
Temple 19 

CHAPTER    III. 

Providence  and  Grace. — Nicodemus.  — Reason  for  coming  te  Jesus  by  Night. — 
Wisdom  of  our  Lord's  Teaching.  —  Baptism.  —  Regeneration.  —  Sudden  Conver- 
sions. —  Earthly  Things  and  Ileavenly .  —  Brass  Serpent.  —  God's  Love        .    30 

CHAPTER  III.   (Contimied.) 
Summary  of  Truths.  —  Baptism  and  Immersion.  —  Disputes.  —  Humility  of  John. 
—  Seal.  —  Everlasting  Life. — Life  through  Faith  and  from  Christ.  —  The  Fu- 
ture not  in  either  Division. —  Insensibility.  —  Only  two  Classes  .        .        .40 

CHAPTER   IV. 
A  Sermon. — No  Accidents. — Woman  of  Samaria.  —  A  page  in  her  History. — 
Her  desire  to  keep  it  secret.  —  Iler  recognition  of  Jesus.  —  Her  Missionary  Con- 
duct. —  Sick  Son.  —  Disease    not    peculiar    to    Poverty.  —  The  Cure.  —  The 

Proof 45 

(vii) 


VIU  CONTKXTS. 


CHAPTER  IV.    (Coniinutd.) 
Scripture  Incidents.  —  No  Chance.  —  The  Preacher  here.  —  Unexpected  Gifts.  — 
All  of  God.  —  Expulsive  Power  of  a  new  Affection.  —  Living  Water.  —  Mis- 
takes   54 


CHAPTER  V. 
Bcthesda.  —  Alleged  Interpolation.  —  The  Paralytic.  —  Strength  and  Grace.  —  The 
Sabbath.  —  Thankfulness.  —  Sin  and  Suffering.  —  Persecution.  — •  The  Father's 
Sabbath-work.  —  Jesus  asserts  his  Deity.  —  Giver  of  Life.  —  Search  the  Scrip- 
tures   67 


CHAPTER  V.   {Continued.) 
Fathers  at  issue  on  "Search  the  Scriptures."  —  Rome's  Perplexity.  —  Pixity  of 
Scripture. —  Bible  for  Laity.  —  Intelligible  Tran.slatiou.  —  Searching,  its  Im- 
port. —  What  we  should  search  for.  —  Impartial  Reading.  — Prayerful  Reading 
leads  to  Eternal  Life 77 


CHAPTER  VI. 
Crowd  follows  Jesus.  —  The  Question  of  Jesus.  —  Miracle.  —  "Waste  not,  Want 
not." — Elements  in   Clvfist's   Miracles.  —  Natm-e  and  Miracles.  —  Advice   of 
Jesus. — Divine  Teachfng.  —  Transubstantiation 87 


CHAPTER    VII. 
Varied  Impressions. — The  early  Brethren  of  Jesus.  —  Their  Advice.  —  The  Sab- 
bath.—  Murmuring  about  Jesus.  —  Offer  of  the  Spirit.  — Nicodemus.  —  Ills 
Sympathy  and  Interposition 97 


CHAPTER  Vn.   (Continued.) 
Disputes  about  the  Messiah.  —  Ilis  Birthplace.  —  Controversy.  —  Prophecies  of 
the  Messiah.  —  Types  of  Messiah.  —  Miracles  of  Jesus.  —  His  Lessons.  —  His 
Morality.  —  Uis  Answers. — His  Life.  —  His  Death 102 


CHAPTER  Vm. 
Mode  of  conveying  Truth. — Woman  taken  in  Sin.  —  Wisdom  of  Jesus  .    119 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Blind  Man.  —  Questions  about  the  Cause  of  Blindness.  —  Answer  of  Jesus.  — 
Cure  of  Blindness.  — Effects  of  Cure.  —  Misconstructions  of  Pharisees.  —  Obsti- 
nate Enmity  of  Priests.  —  Able  Replies  of  Blind  Man.  —  Subsequent  Couver- 
ftion.  —  Guilt  of  t!ie  Pharisoos         .  .  ...  .         .     129 


CONTENTS.  IX 


CHAPTER  IX.   {Continued.) 

Nature. — Christ's  Miracles. — Redemption.  —  Blindness  of  Mind. — Analogies. — 
Opening  the  Eyes  of  the  Mind.  —  Things  seen  in  a  new  Light.  —  The  Soul.  — 
Sin.  —  The  Law.  —  Christ's  Work.  —  Bible.  —  Sanctuary.  —  Sabbath         .    187 

CHAPTER,  X. 

The  Shepherd.  —  False  Christs.  — The  Door.  —  Habits  of  Eastern  Flocks.  —  Shep- 
herd to  defend  and  feed  Flock  and  Folds.  —  Christ's  Power  to  die. — Christ's 
Deity.  —  Christ  receires  Worship  and  assumes  to  be  God     ....    151 

CHAPTER  X.   (Continued.) 
Imagery.  —  Christ's  Goodness. — Stray  Sheep.  —  Animal  Faces.  —  Christ  knows 
his  own.  —  Sympathizes  with    Secret  Sorrows.  —  Christ's  Sheep  are  hia  by 
Choice  and  Purchase.  —  Follow  Christ.  —  IIow  we  follow  Christ.  —  Nuns  .    159 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Lazarus  Sick.  —  Martha  and  Mary.  —  Bethany.  —  Publication  of  Good  Deeds.  — 
The  Appeal  of  the  Sisters.  —  Jesus  Man  as  well  as  God.  —  Delay  not  Denial.  — 
Death  a  Sleep. — Characters.  —  Short  and  sublime  Creed.  —  Secret  of  Christ's 
Sorrow 173 

CHAPTER  XI.   {Co7itimied.) 
Removal  of  Gravestone.  —  Means  and   Miracle.  —  Doubts   unreasonable.  —  Hu- 
mility.—  God's  Glory.  —  Christ's  Miracles,  and  those  of  the  Apostles.  —  God's 
Province  and  Man's.  —  Effects  of  the  Miracle.  —  Expediency.  —  Church  Unity. 
—  Decay  of  the  Moslem.  —  Return  of  Jews. — Signs  of  End       .        .        .    181 

CHAPTER  XH, 

Hospitality  of  Friends.  —  Lazarus  at  Table.  —  Silence  of   Scripture  on  merely 

curious  Questions.  — Perfume  of  Love.  —  The  Poor.  — Prophetic  Liberality.  — 

Attempt  of  Pharisees  to  kill  Lazarus. — Results  of  Death  of   Christ.  —  The 

World's  Crisis. — Prophecy.  —  Cowardly  Convictions 192 

CHAPTER  XH.  (Contimied.) 
Palm  Sunday.  —  Its  Origin.  —  Jesus  enters  Jerusalem  as  Prophet,  Priest,  and 
King. — A  Conqueror. — People  remain  faithful.  —  Jews  had  the  Old  Testa- 
ment.—  Prophecy  literally  fulfilled. — History. — Christ  a  Priest  and  King. — 
Salvation.— Bible.  — Teaching 202 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Last  Supper.  —  Christ's  Death  anticipated  by  Him.  — Death,  its  Aspect.  —  Christ's 
Love.  —  Satan  instig.ates    Judas. — Washing  of  Disciples'   Feet. — Peter. — 
Prophecy  of  Betrayal  .        • 216 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
Post-communiou    Address.  —  Reasons    against    Sorrow.  —  Tents    on    Earth  and 
Mansions   in  Heaven.  —  Preparation   of  a  Place. — Definition  of  Heaven. — 
Christ  the  Imageof  the  Father. — AComforter.  —  Trinity.  — The  Mediator    225 


CHAPTER  XIV.   (Continued.) 
"lam  theTVay,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life. "  —  I.  The  Way        ....    235 

CHAPTER  XIV.  ( Continued.) 
n.  The  Truth 247 

CHAPTER  XIV.  ( Continued.) 
III.  The  Life        : 259 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Jesus  preaches  Himself.  —  Simplicity  of  Teaching.  — The  Vine  and  its  Bi-anches.  — 
Christ  and  his  People.  —  Support.  —  Fruitfulness.  —  Unity.  —  The  true  Church. 
—  Real  Religion.  —  Fruit.  —  Prayer.  —  Joy.  —  Christians  Christ's  Friends.  — 
Marksof.  — The  World.— The  Spirit's  Work 273 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
Apostles  yet  unenlightened.  —  Candor  of  Jesus.  —  Sorrow  at  Christ's  Departure.  — 
Spirit's  Work.  —  Prophecy.  —  Prayer 287 


CHAPTER  XVI.   ( Continued.) 
Peace,  not  in  Christ's  Words,  but  in  Christ.  —  Peace  in  spite  of  the  World.— 
Through  Truth.  —  The  Product  of  Truths  stated  by  our  Lord.  —  Christ  is  God. 
—  The  World  persecutes  to  the  End.  —  In  Christ  is  Peace  to  the  End        .    293 


CHAPTER   XVII. 
The  Intercessor. —Jesus  is  God.  — Latent  Proofs  of  his  Deity.  —  Preexistence  of 
Christ. —  In  the  AYorld  and  out  of  it.  — God's  Word  is  Truth.  — Evidence  of 
Geology.— "Father,  I  will."— Employment  of  the  Blessed       .        .        .    307 


CHAPTER  XVII.   ( Continued.) 
Justification  and  Sanctiflcation.  —  Sanetification,  its  Meaning.  — Truth  the  Instru- 
ment.—God  the  Author.  —  Importance  of  hearing  Truth. —Truth  set  forth 
in  the  Lord's  Supper gjr 


CONTENTS. 


CHArXER  XVn.  (Cojiiiimed.) 
The  Church  and  tho  TVorld.  —  Opposites.  —  Features  of  the  Church. — Visibility 
of  the  Church.  —  The  Apostasy.  —  A  visible  Church.  — Baptism.  —  The  Com- 
munion.—  Ordination. — The  Clergy  not  the  Church.  —  Different  Commun- 
ions.—  Unity  of  the  Church. — Great  Truths.  —  Charming  Variety. — Perfect 
Unity  in  tho  Age  to  come 325 


CHAPTER  XVm. 
Judas.  —  The  Question  of  Jesus.  —  The  Effect  of  the  Presence  of  Christ.  —  Peter's 
Rashness.  —  Anger.  —  Caiaphas.  —  Peter's    Denial.  —  Pilate.  —  The   Mob.  — 
Truth 842 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Death  of  Jesus. — Pilate.  — Crown  of  Thorns.  — Pilate's  Appeal.  —  Inconsistency 
of  Jews.  —  Tho  Cross.  —  Pilate's  renewed  Inquiry.  —  Inscription  on  the  Cross. 
—  Prophecy.  —  Kelics.  —  "  It  is  finished."  —  Proof  of  Christ's  Death.  —  Sepul- 
chre        ...............  352 

CHAPTER  XIX.   (Continued.) 
Pilate's  Vacillation.  —  Innocence  suffers.  —  Pilate's  Wife.  —  Moral  Borderers.  — 
Jesus' Death.  —  Its  Nature. — Joseph  of  Arimathea. — Nicodemus     .        .    360 

CHAPTER  XIX.  ( Contimied.) 
A  Group. —  Sufferings  of  Jesus. —  The  Women.  —  Women's  Character.  —  Cakn- 
ness  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  —  Her  Disappointment.  —  Words  of  Jesus  to  Mary.  — 
His  entire  Poverty.  — Compensation.  —  Silence  of  Scripture  on  Mary        .    367 

CHAPTER  XIX.   (Continued.) 
Types  of  Character.  —  Timid  Christians.  —  Progress.  —  Reasons  of  Retiremeut    382 

CHAPTER  XX. 
Not  Fiction. — Woman.  —  Incredulity  of  Resurrection.  —  The  Linen  Clothes  in 
the  Sepulchre.  —  Mary  at  the  Sepulchre.  —  Ear  corrective  of  Eye.  —  Mary  hold- 
ing Jesus.  — His  Word.  —  Identity  of  Christ's  Body.  — Recognition.  —  Investi- 
ture of  Apostles.  —  Absolution.  —  The  Leprosy.  —  Scepticism  of  Thomas   .    394 


CHAPTER  XX.   (Continued.) 
Record  of  what  Jesus  did.  —  Pretended  Histories  written.  — Tradition.  — Faith.  — 
People  have  a  Right  to  the  Bible.  — Bible  intelligible  —  sufficient.  —  Practical 
Life.  —  Christ  the  Testimony  of  Scripture 404 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   XXI. 


Tho  Ascension.  —  The  Resurrection.  —  Worldly  Employment. —  Appearance  of 
Jesus.  — Disciples  at  first  fail  to  recognize  him.  —  The  Reason.  —  Idiosyncracies. 
—  Presence  of  Christ.  —  Question  to  Peter.  —  Peter's  Primacy  and  Grief.  — 
Things  spoken  by  Jesus 416 


CHAPTER   XXI.    {Continued.) 
Peter's  Query. — Our  Translation.  —  Our  Curiosity  about  others.  —  Practical  An- 
swers. —  Life  a  Journey.  —  Christ's   Second  Advent.  —  Duty    befoie  curious 
Questions 426 

Undesigned  and  Suggestive  Coincidences  in  the  Four  Gospels      .       .  440 


SCRIPTURE  READINGS. 


EXPOSITION  OF  JOHN  I. 

CHARACTERS  OF  THE  FOUR  GOSPELS. BEAUTY  AND  EXCELLENCE 

OF  ST.  John's.  — john's  history.  —  his  relation  to  jesus.  — 

GRACE     not     by    GENERATION     OR     SACRAMENT. TRAINING     OF 

CHILDREN. 

Here  we  begin  the  study  of  the  most  interesting,  instruc- 
tive, and  beautiful  of  the  four  biographies  of  our  blessed 
Lord.  I  know  not  one  of  the  gospels  so  fraught  with  in- 
struction, SO  rich  in  consolation,  so  fitted  to  enlighten,  to 
improve,  to  impress,  and  build  up  the  people  of  God,  as  the 
Gospel  according  to  St.  John.  The  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew 
was  written  for  the  Hebrew,  or  the  Jew ;  and  every  idiom 
and  allusion  in  it  proves  this.  The  Gospel  according  to  St. 
Mark  was  written  for  the  Roman ;  and  the  repeated  Latin- 
ized expressions  indicate  that  it  was  so.  The  Gospel  ac- 
cording to  St.  Luke  was  written  for  the  accomplished  Greek, 
or  chief  Gentiles ;  its  commencement  is  in  the  purest  style 
of  classic  Greek,  and  the  whole  indicates  a  tone,  a  cultiva- 
tion, and  a  polish  that  show  for  whom  it  was  meant,  and  tliat 
it  was  written  by  a  cultivated  and  accomplished  scholar. 
The  Gospel  of  St.  John  was  written  for  all  believers  as 
such  in  all  ages  of  the  world  ;  it  has  nothing  of  the  peculiar 
in  it,  but  every  thing  of  the  universal ;  applicable  to  every 

1 


SCIUPTURE    READINGS. 


age,  instructive  to  every  class,  called  sometimes,  by  ancient 
writers,  very  justly  and  truly,  "  the  Gospel  of  the  Father." 
"  The  Father,"  as  applied  to  God,  occurs  about  seventy-two 
times  in  the  Gospel  according  to  St.  John ;  and  the  great 
theme  of   the    apostle   that  was  nearest  to  the    Saviour's 
bosom,  that  drank  deepest  into  his  spirit,  is  love,  the  father- 
hood of  God,  tiie  brotherhood  of  all  Christians.    John,  M'ho 
Avrote  this  Gospel,  is  also  the  author  of  the  Book  of  Reve- 
lation.    There  are  expressions  occurring  in  both,  that  prove 
the  authorship  to  be  the  same.     The  language  of  John  is 
intensely  Hebraistic,  or  Greek  tinctured  strongly  by  Hebra- 
istic idioms,  just  as  a  Scotchman's  English  is  mixed  up  with 
what  are  called  Scotticisms.    You  at  once  discover,  by  read- 
ing Luke's  gospel,  that  he  had  Gentile  blood  in  his  veins, 
and  was  an  accomplished  Greek  scholar ;  and  you  discover 
in  a  moment,  by  reading  St.  John's,  that  he  was  an  unedu- 
cated man  ;  the  Holy  Spirit  giving  inspiration  from  heaven 
to  the  simple,  naked,  and  often  unidiomatical  words  that  he, 
the   uneducated,  yet  inspired    evangelist,    employed   upon 
earth.     Only  let  not  this  be  misunderstood.     It  does  not 
follow  because  the  Spirit  inspires  a  man  that  he  is  to  be,  in 
his  peculiar  tone,  temperament,  intellectual  capacities,  taste, 
and  mode  of  expression,  something  different  from  what  he 
was  before.     The  Holy  Spirit  inspired  John,  he  did  not  ex- 
tinguish John  ;  he  inspired  Matthew,  he  did  not  turn  Mat- 
thew into  somebody  else.     He  took  the   instrument  as  it 
was,  and  he  passed  through  that  instrument  the  breath  of 
heaven,  so  that  it  should  convey  to  mankind  the  sure  words 
of  righteousness  and  peace.     And  instead  of  this  being,  as 
some  seem  to  dream,  an  objection  to  the  inspiration  of  the 
New  Testament,  it  is,  on  the  other  hand,  its  greatest  glory, 
its  most  exquisite  characteristic.     Because,  if  one  man  had 
written  all  the  New  Testament  in  his  own  way,  or  in  the 
best  and  the  choicest  words,  it  would  have  been  extremely 
monotonous ;  it  would  have  been  instructive  to  the  practised 


JOHN    I.  3 

and  accomplished  scholar,  but  to  the  mechanic,  the  peasant, 
and  the  ordinary  reader,  it  would  have  been  too  high  for 
him  to  understand.  But  by  taking  each  man's  idiosyncrasy 
or  peculiarity  of  character,  and  making  that  peculiarity  of 
character  the  vehicle  of  instructive  truth,  the  truth  in- 
fluencing the  vehicle,  not  the  vehicle  diluting  it,  he  has  pro- 
vided a  repast  for  every  man's  taste  and  for  every  variety 
of  taste.  The  scholar  may  find  what  reaches  the  loftiest 
pitch  of  his  attainments,  the  peasant  will  find  what  descends 
to  the  lowest  level  of  his  information ;  so  that  each  immor- 
tal soul  may  discover  in  this  wonderful  book,  so  rich  in  its 
variety,  and  yet  so  pervaded  by  the  unity  of  the  one  inspir- 
ing Spirit,  what  will  not  suffer  him  to  go  away  empty  from 
the  perusal  of  it.  It  is  the  very  beauty  of  this  Book,  that 
it  is  written  in  plain  and  simple  language,  arising  from  cir- 
cumstances not  peculiar  to  an  age,  but  common  to  every 
age,  and  fitted  therefore  to  instruct  all  mankind,  in  all  the 
varying  phases  of  their  character  and  their  experience. 
Now,  I  do  not  know  of  a  Gospel  so  full  of  love,  so  rich  in 
inexhaustible  comfort,  as  the  Gospel  according  to  St.  John. 
It  is  literally,  the  simplest,  and  sublimest,  and,  if  one  may 
speak  by  comparison,  it  is  the  most  popular  Gospel.  It  is 
that  to  which  sickness  has  recourse,  when  the  lights  of  this 
world  grow  dim,  and  the  prospects  of  another  begin  to  dawn 
ujion  the  soul ;  it  is  that  to  which  we  have  recourse  in  suf- 
fering and  tears  and  grief;  in  which  we  find  sweet  springs 
of  comfort  in  the  hour  of  death.  No  Gospel  has  been  so 
read,  no  book  so  studied :  and  yet  the  better  we  know  it,  the 
richer  and  the  more  instructive,  not  the  more  wearisome,  it 
appears  to  us.  We  know  that  an  ordinary  piece  of  music,  for 
instance,  becomes,  by  frequent  repetition,  so  unpleasant  that 
we  would  rather  not  hear  it :  but  the  great  strains  of  the 
great  masters  of  song  are  so  beautiful,  so  rich,  that  the 
oftener  we  hear  them  the  more  welcome  they  are,  and  the 
more   we   appreciate   them.     It  is  yet  more   so  with  this 


4  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

blessed  book ;  tlie  oftener  we  read  it,  the  more  instructive  it 
becomes.  Nobody  ever  Avearies  of  these  beautiful  words, 
nobody  ever  objects  to  hear  one  of  these  chapters  read,  and 
read,  and  read  again.  It  is  like  a  precious  gem  ever  put  in 
new  lights ;  it  refracts  and  reflects  new  splendor,  and  the 
oftener  we  see  and  understand  it,  the  more  we  love  it ;  and 
he  that  knows  it  best  wants  it  to  be  read  the  oftenest. 

The  author  of  this  Gospel,  as  already  stated,  is  John.  He 
was  the  son  of  Zebedee,  a  fisherman  upon  the  lake  of  Gali- 
lee. His  mother  was  a  Christian  woman,  Salome ;  he  fol- 
lowed the  occupation  of  his  father,  namely,  that  of  a  fisher- 
man, and  about  the  age  of  twenty-five  he  was  called  to 
follow  his  blessed  Master,  and  enlightened  in  the  knowledge 
of  his  Messiahship,  his  message,  and  mission.  It  is  supposed 
that  John  was  born  about  the  time  that  our  blessed  Lord 
was  born,  and  that  he  died  about  a  hundred  years  old  in 
Ephesus,  where  he  wrote  this  very  Gospel.  He  was  ban- 
ished to  Patmos,  an  island  in  the  ^gean  Sea,  and  on  that 
desert  rock  the  bright  panorama  of  all  heaven,  and  of  the 
past,  the  present,  and  the  future,  swept  before  him,  and  he 
recorded  it  as  he  was  inspired  in  the  book  we  call  the  Rev- 
elation, or  the  Apocalypse.  After  he  escaped  from  Patmos, 
through  the  accession  of  the  Roman  emperor  Nerva,  he 
went  to  Ephesus,  a  leading  city  of  great  celebrity  in  Asia 
Minor,  and  there  it  is  understood  he  wrote  this  Gospel 
which  bears  his  name.  I  need  not  repeat  what  I  have  said 
before,  that  the  word  "  Gospel "  is  composed  of  two  Saxon 
words,  ^oc?  —  spell;  spell  meaning  "news"  or  "tidings;" 
and  means  literally,  "  the  good  tidings,"  "  the  good  news," 
or  "  the  glad  tidings."  John  does  not  give  an  account  of 
the  birth  of  Christ :  it  evidently  appears  that  this  Gospel 
was  written  after  the  other  three  in  point  of  time ;  it  was 
written  in  all  probability  —  no,  not  probability,  but  to  a 
certainty  —  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  It  is  a 
record,  not  of  the  birth,  but  of  the  ministry  of  Jesus,    Plence, 


JOHN    I.  O 

it  begins  first  with  a  statement  of  what  Christ  was,  what 
Christ  had  become,  and  at  once  he  presents  the  Redeemer 
entering  on  his  official  ministry,  and  says  nothing  about  his 
birth,  which  had  been  fully  and  minutely  delineated  by  pre- 
vious evangelists.  And  you  will  be  struck,  if  you  will  take 
up  a  comparison  of  the  Gospels  written  by  any  one  who  has 
paid  attention  to  the  subject,  —  with  the  perfect  harmony 
that  subsists  between  each  of  the  four  evangelists,  writing 
from  different  countries,  viewing  the  Saviour  at  different 
angles,  and  each  stating  the  facts  which  came  before  his  own 
personal  and  immediate  inspection. 

Now,  John  says  nothing  about  the  birth  of  Christ,  but  he 
proceeds  at  once  to  state  the  sum  and  the  substance  of  the 
ministry  of  Jesus,  as  preceded  by  John  the  Baptist,  accord- 
ing to  the  prophecy  in  the  last  chapter  of  the  book  of  Mala- 
chi,  —  that  God  should  send  his  messenger  before  him,  to 
prepare  the  way  of  the  Lord.  He  at  once  begins  by  assert- 
ing the  Deity  of  Christ  as  God  and  Lord  of  all ;  and  he 
states,  "  In  him  was  life,"  —  that  is,  original,  unborrowed, 
underived.  In  us  there  is  a  streamlet  from  the  Fountain  of 
Life  ;  in  him  was  the  Fountain  of  Life.  Our  life  is  some- 
thing we  receive,  something  that  the  Giver  takes  back  again 
to  himself,  —  over  which  we  have  no  control,  and  for  which 
we  must  give  God  the  account  and  the  praise.  But  in 
Jesus  was  life  underived,  unborrowed ;  he  was  the  Life ;  and 
that  Life,  it  is  said,  "  was  the  light  of  men."  It  is  remark- 
able, in  this  Gospel,  that  life  is  constantly  associated  with 
light :  that  is  a  great  analogy  that  we  can  discover  in  this 
world  ourselves.  If  there  were  no  light,  all  vegetation  would 
die,  all  animal  life  would  in  all  probability  die  also.  I  be- 
lieve there  are  three  things  that  man's  health  is  very  much 
indebted  to  ;  that  is,  pure  food,  pure  air,  and  pure  light.  If 
you  take  a  geranium  or  a  rose-tree,  and  keep  it  away  from 
the  light,  you  will  soon  see  it  begin  to  pine  away,  and  fade, 
and  become  white,  and  ultimately  die  ;  although  it  will  put 

1* 


6  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

forth  shoots  in  all  directions,  struggling  and  searching,  if 
pcradventurc  it  may  reach  that  which  is  its  life,  the  light  of 
heaven.  This  is  an  illustration  of  heavenly  and  spiritual 
things  ;  life  is  associated  with  light.  If  we  have  no  light 
from  the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  we  cannot  have  life.  If  we 
have  no  knowledge,  we  cannot  be  learned.  It  is,  "  Siinctify 
them  through  thy  truth,"  —  that  is.  Make  them  holy  through 
knowing  my  word.  Light  and  life  are  indissoluble,  and  he 
that  has  not  the  one  must  remain  destitute  of  the  other. 

Then  says  John,  very  truly,  "  The  light "  —  that  is, 
Christ — "  shineth  in  darkness,"  —  that  is,  in  the  world, — 
"  and  the  darkness,"  instead  of  welcoming  that  which  had 
come  to  irradiate  and  to  scatter  it,  "  comprehended  and  re- 
ceived it  not."  He  then  says,  "  There  was  a  man  sent  from 
God  whose  name  was  .John."  What  different  language  is 
applied  to  John  from  that  which  is  applied  to  Christ !  "  In 
the  beginning  was  the  Word,"  describes  Christ.  "  There  was 
a  man  sent  from  God  whose  name  w'as  John."  And  this 
John  came  not  the  Light,  for  that  he  Avas  not ;  but  he  came 
a  witness,  "  to  bear  witness  of  that  Light."  There  is  the 
office  of  the  minister,  —  not  to  take  Christ's  place,  or  to 
arrogate  to  himself  Christ's  glory,  but  simply  to  be  a  sign- 
post pointing  out  the  way,  a  witness  attesting  the  glory,  a 
voice  in  the  desert,  "  Behold  the  Lamb." 

In  order  to  be  still  more  decisive,  he  says,  "  John  was  not 
that  Light,  but  was  sent  for  this  one  office,  —  to  bear  wit- 
ness of  that  Light."  Now,  this  is  the  function  of  every 
minister  of  the  gospel ;  his  office  is  not  to  attach  the  people's 
sympathies  to  himself,  but  to  lift  the  people's  sympathies 
above  himself,  till  they  rest  upon  Christ  and  him  crucified. 
The  minister  of  the  gospel  is  not  the  Light,  but  a  witness  to 
it ;  is  not  the  Saviour,  but  a  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness, 
"  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God."  It  says,  "  That  was  the  true 
Light,  which  lighteth  cveiy  man  that  cometh  into  the  world." 
He  was  "  in  the  Avorld,  and  the  Avorld  was  made  by  him, 


JOHN   I.  7 

and,"  —  oh  terrible  depths  into  Avhich  that  world  had  sunk 
in  aberration  and  degradation,  this  world  that  he  made  knew 
not  its  Maker  when  its  Maker  came  to  it !  — "  the  world 
knew  him  not."  But  "he  came  to  his  owfi,"  —  not  only  to 
the  world,  but  he  came  to  those  very  Jews  that  he  had  set 
apart  for  himself,  —  "and,"  no  less  painful  result,  "his  own 
received  him  not."  What  an  awful  fact  is  this  !  that  the 
Maker  of  the  world  came  to  his  own  house,  and  the  tenant 
that  was  in  it  by  his  sufferance  repelled  him  from  it.  You 
have  all  read  of  the  beautiful  sentiment  of  Plato,  who,  with 
Socrates  his  master,  seems  to  have  stood  upon  the  loftiest 
pinnacle  of  earth,  and  to  have  caught  some  beams  of  the 
approaching  light :  he  said,  "  If  perfect  truth  and  holiness 
were  to  come  down  to  our  world,  the  whole  world  would  be 
so  charmed  with  his  beauty,  that  it  would  fall  down  and 
worship  him."  We  have  no  longer  Plato's  statement  as  a 
hypothesis,  but  Plato's  conjecture  differently  fulfilled  as  a 
melancholy  fact.  What  he  supposed  has  come  to  pass. 
Truth  came  to  our  world  ;  but,  alas !  the  hospitality  that 
the  philosopher  expected  was  denied  to  it ;  for  "  He  came 
unto  his  own,  and  his  own  received  him  not."  "  But,"  it 
says,  "  as  many  as  received  him  "  —  showing  there  was  an 
election  according  to  grace  —  "  as  many  as  received  him,  to 
them  gave  he  power" — jurisdiction,  privilege  —  "to  be- 
come the  sons  of  God,  even  to  them  that  believe  on  his 
name  :  which  were  born  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the 
flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God." 

Now,  here  is  regeneration  stated  to  us.  He  says  true 
Christians  are  born  "  not  of  blood,"  —  that  is  to  say,  grace 
is  not  inherited.  Sometimes  a  very  bad  father  has  a  godly 
son ;  and  at  other  times  a  Christian  father  has  a  profligate 
son.  What  does  that  prove  ?  That  grace  is  not  by  blood : 
that  we  are  saved  not  by  race.  It  is  perfectly  true, — 
"  Train  up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go ; "  not,  as  some 
people  very  foolishly  read  it,  "  in  the  way  he  would  go." 


8  SOniPTURIC    KEADIXGS. 

"  Train  up  a  child  ;  "  not  only  teach,  it  is  of  no  use  to  teach 
if  you  do  not  train.  If  you  were  to  tell  a  vine  to  grow  up  a 
pole  before  training  it,  it  would  not  do  so.  You  must  train 
it,  and  help  it  onwards  on  its  way.  And  so  it  is  with  a 
child ;  you  must  not  only  tell  him  to  do  this,  but  you  must 
put  him  in  the  way  of  doing  it.  You  must  not  only  say  to 
the  child,  when  there  is  a  collection  for  a  Bible  Society, 
"  It  is  right  and  proper  to  give  something  ; "  but  you  must 
say  to  the  child,  "  Begin  to  give  a  halfpenny,  and  as  you 
grow  older  and  richer  increase  it  to  a  penny ;  and  as  you 
get  older  and  richer  still,  increase  it  to  a  pound  :  "  and  by 
teaching  your  children  to  give,  you  do  more  to  make  them 
liberal  and  all  mankind  blessed,  than  by  all  the  cold  lessons 
that  you  can  shower  down  like  snow-flakes  in  the  shape  of 
cold  and  unimpressive  advice.  Then  Christians  are  "  not 
of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man." 
Now  I  need  no  other  clause  than  this  to  jjut  an  end  to  what 
is  called  baptismal  regeneration.  If  baptism  be  the  regen- 
eration of  a  man's  heart,  then  regeneration  is  by  the  will  of 
man  ;  because,  if  by  baptizing  a  man  I  can  regenerate  his 
heart,  I  have  only  to  specify  the  day,  the, hour,  and  by  my 
will,  and  at  my  determination,  the  man  shall  be  regenerated 
and  born  again.  But,  says  the  sacred  penman,  regeneration 
is  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of 
man ;  but  it  is  "  of  God."  And  how  does  God  act  ?  In 
sovereignty.     "  The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth." 


CHAPTER  I.   45-51. 

MISSIONARY   NATURE  OF   TRUE  CHRISTIANITY.  —  EXPERIBIENTAL  RE- 
LIGION. —  PREJUDICE. RESULTS     OF    PERSONAL     EXAMINATION. 

—  PUPIL   OUTGROWS   HIS   TEACHER.  —  EULOGY   AND   PROMISE  OP 
JESUS. 

We  have  here  a  specimen  of  a  true  Christian  home-mis- 
sionary in  the  case  of  Philip  :  and  we  have,  in  the  case  of 
Nathanael,  a  sincere  Christian,  with  less  light  than  grace, 
but  holding  the  truth  that  he  had  most  sincerely  ;  and  there- 
fore not  suffered  to  grope  in  darkness,  but  enlightened  more 
and  more  till  he  reached  unto  the  perfect  day.  In  these 
two  characters  we  see  one  having  so  much  light  and  grace 
that  he  had,  as  it  were,  to  spare  for  others,  or  at  least  he 
felt  it  his  privilege  to  go  and  tell  them  where  they  might 
find  grace  and  light ;  and  the  other  with  little  light,  but  sin- 
cere in  holding  the  little  that  he  had ;  and  with  more  grace 
than  light,  which  enabled  him  to  act  up  to  the  light  that  he 
had ;  and  therefore,  not  left  in  darkness ;  but  he  that  hath, 
having  added  to  what  he  hath ;  while  they  that  have  not, 
have  taken  from  them  even  that  which  they  have. 

Now,  in  the  case  of  the  first,  namely  Philip,  finding 
Nathanael,  and  coming  to  him,  we  have  evidence  that  true 
grace  never  rests  satisfied  with  its  own  existence,  or  anchors 
in  itself.  True  grace  always  longs  to  diff'use  itself;  it  can- 
not consent  to  be  passive,  its  very  nature  is  active,  penetrat- 
ing, aggressive  ;  whilst  there  is  a  sinner  to  be  saved,  grace 
in  an  enlightened  heart  never  can  be  satisfied.  It  is  the 
seed,  the  living  seed,  cast  into  the  living  soil  of  a  renewed 

(9) 


10  SCRIPTURE   READIXGS. 

and  regenerate  heart,  and  there  it  bears  fruit,  and  increaseth 
more  and  more.  Therefore  Phihp,  having  found  grace, 
light,  and  life,  goes  to  Nathanael,  and  tells  Nathanael,  "  We 
have  found  him  of  whom  Moses  and  the  prophets  have 
written." 

And,  in  the  next  place,  where  there  is  true  grace  in  the 
heart  it  is  not  satisfied  with  desiring  to  teach,  and  convert, 
and  enlighten  them  that  are  brought  in  the  providence  of 
God  within  its  reach ;  but  it  goes  and  seeks  and  finds  out 
those  who  are  not  within  its  reach,  and  tries  to  teach  them 
that  more  excellent  way.  For  Philip  Jindeth  Nathanael ; 
he  must  have  been  looking  for  him ;  just  as  in  a  previous 
chapter  we  find  Andrew,  Simon  Peter's  brother,  first  finding 
his  own  brother  Simon,  and  saying  to  him,  "  We  have  found 
the  Messias,  which  is,  being  interpreted,  the  Christ."  Then 
we  have  Philip  of  Bethsaida,  the  city  of  Andrew  and  Peter, 
brought  also  to  the  Saviour ;  and  then  Philip  evidently 
looking  out  for  subjects  of  the  influence  of  his  principles, 
and  imparting  to  one  of  them  that  he  found  out  —  Nathanael 
—  the  knowledge  of  Christ  and  of  salvation.  Thus,  wher- 
ever there  is  true  Christianity,  it  is  not  only  diffusive  over 
them  that  are  brought  in  the  providence  of  God  within  its 
.power;  but  it  is  essentially  proselytizing  in  the  highest  and 
holiest  sense  of  the  word.  It  seeks  out  them  that  are  igno- 
rant, and  rests  not  till  Philip  finds  Nathanael,  and  tells  him 
of  Christ  the  only  Saviour.  A  very  beautiful  peculiai-ity 
of  true  grace,  or  real  Christianity,  is,  that  it  does  not 
diminish  by  imparting,  it  does  not  exhaust  itself  by  en- 
lightening others.  The  very  contrary  is  the  fact.  One 
candle  can  light  a  thousand,  but  it  has  parted  with  nothing 
of  its  own  light  in  consequence;  and  so  one  Christian 
may  be  the  instrument  of  enlightening  a  whole  village, 
and  he  will  find  that  instead  of  losing  he  gains,  that  grace 
grows  by  giving,  and  that  the  more  he  makes  known  to 
others  of  the  riches  of  that  grace,  he  has  the  more,  and 


JOHN    I.  11 

finds  grace  in  his  own  heart  grow  in  fertihty  and  in  vigor. 
It  seems  a  law  of  God  that  all  great  things  are  made  greater 
by  sacrifice.  A  great  man  always  looks  greater  when  he  is 
humble  ;  a  rich  man  becomes  richer  by  liberality  ;  having 
is  increased  by  giving.  And  you  will  find  it  a  great  fact  if 
you  will  read  biographies  or  watch  the  world,  that  no  truly 
liberal  man  who  gives  with  both  hands  ever  dies  a  pauper  ; 
and  that  no  close-fisted  man  who  grasps  with  both  hands 
ever  dies  a  very  rich,  or  at  least  a  very  happy  man.  It 
seems  to  be  a  law  that  God  has  ever  exemplified  in  the  his- 
tory and  expei'ience  of  mankind,  "  It  is  more  blessed  to  give 
than  it  is  to  receive." 

We  have,  in  the  next  place,  in  this  interesting  picture,  a 
specimen  of  one  of  the  most  efficient  means  of  instructing 
others  —  it  is  by  personal  and  private  interviews.  It  is 
true  that  from  the  pulpit,  speaking  to  the  masses,  saving 
impressions  are  made,  and  will  be  made,  and  have  been 
made ;  but  it  is  no  less  true,  that  some  amid  the  multitude 
receive  a  truth  just  as  twelve  paupers  receive  a  loaf;  each 
takes  his  own  share  of  it,  w'hich  is  very  small ;  and  it  is  so 
difi'used  over  the  masses  that  each  individual  feels  little,  or 
takes  little  of  it  home  to  his  own  heart.  It  ought  not  to  be 
so ;  but  practically  it  often  is  so.  But  when  you  speak  to 
the  individual  —  when  you  visit  the  cottage,  the  home,  or 
the  sick-bed,  and  speak  to  the  individual  calmly,  quietly, 
gently,  face  to  face,  you  may  drop  a  seed  that  will  flourish 
•when  you  are  gone,  you  may  utter  a  word  that  will  have  its 
echoes  in  many  days  to  come.  Philip  findeth  Nathanael, 
and  to  Nathanael  alone  he  speaks  about  the  things  that 
belong  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

In  the  next  place,  we  have  a  specimen  too  of  the  most 
effective  missionary  action,  when  preaching  comes  from  the 
depth  of  one's  experience.  Philip  says  to  Nathanael,  not, 
"  There  is  a  Saviour  of  whom  Moses  speaks  ; "  but,  "  We 
have  found  him,"  —  that  is.  It  is  with  me  no  longer  a  spec- 


12  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

ulative  dogma  outside  the  house,  but  a  vital  truth  receiving 
hospitality  in  my  heart,  and  making  me  happier,  and  wiser, 
and  holier,  and  better.  "  And  therefore,"  as  if  he  had  said 
to  Nathanael,  "  I  tell  you  not  of  something  exteimal  to  us 
both  ;  but  I  tell  you  what  I  have  tasted,  and  handled,  and 
found,  and  seen  ;  and  I  can  say  to  you.  Come,  as  the 
Psalmist  said  of  old,  and  I  will  tell  you  what  God  hath 
done  for  my  soul."  True,  truth  preached  by  one  who  has 
not  the  experience  of  its  power  is  still  truth,  and  may  be 
blessed  of  God  ;  but  there  is  in  the  truth  i^reached  by  one  who 
himself  has  in  his  heart  received  it  that  which  gives  it  a 
lifelike  character,  a  freshness  and  a  force  that  jjrovokes  re- 
sponsive feelings  in  them  that  hear  ;  and  you  cannot  but  be 
persuaded  by  one  who  can  say,  "  What  we  have  seen,  and 
heard,  and  handled  of  the  AVord  of  Life,  that  we  declare 
unto  you,  that  ye  may  have  fellowship  Avith  us  ;  and  truly 
such  fellowship  is  with  the  Father,  and  with  his  Son  Jesus 
Christ."  But  while  Philip  speaks  from  his  own  personal 
experience  of  the  truth,  he  takes  care  not  to  do  so  in  such 
a  way  as  to  rest  it  entii-ely  there.  On  the  contrary,  he  goes 
beyond  himself  to  the  direct  testimony,  God's  word.  "  We 
have  found  him" — there  is  my  experience;  but  he  says, 
"  We  have  found  him  of  whom  Moses  in  the  law,  and  the 
prophets,  did  write  —  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  son  of  Joseph." 
Truth  felt  within  is  most  precious,  but  truth  attested  with- 
out is  most  clear.  We  must  not  be  satisfied  with  the  outer 
testimony  of  the  Word  alone,  nor  with  the  inner  testimony 
of  the  Spirit  alone ;  but  we  must  have  both  —  the  outward 
word  exercising  its  influence  within,  and  which  enables  us 
to  say,  "  We  know  in  whom  we  have  believed,"  and  that 
Christ  is  our  Saviour,  not  because  he  is  so  described  in  the 
Bible,  but  because  we  have  so  felt  his  transforming  influence 
in  our  own  hearts.  Then  you  will  observe  what  he  says  of 
Jesus  here  —  he  describes  him  as  spoken  of  in  the  law  and 
in  the  prophets.     Moses  speaks  of  "  a  Prophet  like  unto 


JOHN'    I.  13 

himself,  unto  whom  ye  shall  hearken  in  all  things ; "  Isaiah, 
in  his  53d  chapter,  speaks  of  Christ  as  "  one  of  tlie 
prophets  ; "  and  I  have  no  doubt  there  was  an  emphasis  in 
these  words  which  he  felt :  "  Him  of  whom  the  prophets 
and  Moses  spake."  Many  of  the  Jews  were  extremely  puz- 
zled by  the  portrait  of  Christ  in  prophecy.  They  read  in 
one  part,  "  He  is  the  mighty  God ; "  they  read  in  another 
part,  "  He  is  a  man  of  sorrows : "  they  read  in  one  part, 
"  He  is  on  the  throne  ; "  they  read  in  another,  "  He  is  on  the 
cross."  Tliey  could  not  understand  how  one  Messiah  could 
be  both ;  Tind  some  of  them  even  thought  in  their  ignorance 
there  would  be  two  Messiahs.  "  Now,"  says  Philip,  "  we 
have  found  him  in  whom  all  the  majesty  of  God  and  all  the 
weakness  of  man  are  met  together ;  we  have  found  one  who 
corresponds  to  the  Messiah  described  by  Isaiah,  when  he  calls 
him  the  Mighty  God ;  and  we  have  found  one  who  corre- 
sponds to  the  proi^het  spoken  of  by  Moses  and  the  prophets  ; 
and  this  Being,  at  once  divine  and  human,  is  "  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  the  Son  of  Joseph." 

Now  when  Nathanael  heard  this  very  short,  but  very  sim- 
ple and  very  conclusive  sermon,  he  received  it  just  as  many 
people  receive  no  less  good  news  in  the  present  day.  His 
prejudice  had  to  a  great  extent  barred  his  mind  against  the 
reception  of  the  truth ;  and  he  said,  "  Can  any  good  thing 
come  out  of  Nazareth  ?  "  Many  people  in  4|^e  present  day 
do  not  ask,  "  Is  the  doctrine  true  ?  "  but  "  Who  is  he  that 
says  it  ?  "  They  do  not  ask,  "  Is  Christianity  true  ?  "  but, 
"Who  are  its  advocates?"  They  estimate  truth  by  the 
numbers  that  accept  it,  or  by  the  influence,  the  power,  or 
patronage  that  take  it  up.  They  look  at  it  through  the 
mist  of  prejudice,  or  through  the  distorting  medium  of  pas- 
sion ;  and  they  will  not  even  examine,  search,  inquire,  but 
repudiate  the  thing  from  the  very  beginning,  because  of 
mere  traditional  prejudice.  "  Can  any  good  thing  be  in  the 
Scotch  Church  ? "    "  Can  there  be  any  good  thing  in  a  Dis- 

2 


14  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

senting  Chapel  ?  "  "  Can  there  be  evangelical  religion  in 
the  Church  of  England?"  And  they  will  not  go  where 
there  is  a  preacher  of  truth,  because  he  does  not  use  their 
shibboleth,  wear  their  robes,  worship  in  their  form,  and  ac- 
cept their  ceremonies !  We  must  learn  to  see  that  there 
are  good  things  often  where  we  least  expect  them,  and  bad 
things  where  we  think  there  is  the  greatest  amount  of  good- 
ness. We  must  take  truth  on  its  own  merits,  on  the  evi- 
dence by  which  it  is  proved  to  be  so.  If  minorities  are  on 
its  side  we  cannot  help  it ;  if  majorities  are  on  its  side  we 
are  very  thankful.  If  truth  leads  to  losses,  we  May  regret 
it ;  if  it  leads  to  gain,  we  are  thankful. 

"  Seize  on  truth,  where'er  't  is  found, 
Among  her  friends,  among  her  foes, 
On  Christian,  or  on  heathen  ground, 
The  flower 's  divine  where'er  it  grows." 

The  true,  and  short,  and  simple,  and  satisfactory  reply 
was  given  by  Philip  :  "  You  have  a  prejudice,  Nathanael ; 
it  would  take  many  hours'  talking  and  arguing  to  cast  this 
prejudice  out  of  your  mind,  of  which  it  has  taken  possession  ; 
but  I  have  a  very  short  and  a  veiy  satisfactory  prescription. 
You  ask,  'Can  any  good  thing  come  out  of  Nazareth?' 
'  Come  and  see  ; '  that  is  the  best  way.  Do  not  take  my 
opinion  nor  b^eve  my  testimony,  but  judge  for  yourself, 
and  if  you  are  not  satisfied,  then  forgive  my  weakness ;  if 
you  are  satisfied,  then  thank  me  as  the  instrument ;  and  I 
am  sure  that  if  you  come  and  see  you  will  be  satisfied." 
Now  this  is  the  best  way  to  ascertain  the  evidence  of  the 
power  of  the  gospel  or  the  proofs  of  Christianity  ;  it  is  the 
shortest  way.  I  do  not  say  that  this  would  apply  for  in- 
stance in  medicine.  If  we  were  to  taste  some  drug  to  see 
whether  it  would  do  us  good  or  not,  it  might  be  productive 
of  mischief.  But  we  are  so  sure  that  this  religion  cannot 
do  us  any  harm,  and  we  never  heard  anybody  say  that  it 


JOHN   I.  15 

does  so  ;  and  we  are  so  certain  it  must  do  good,  tliat  we  can 
say  to  the  most  sceptical,  Just  come  and  make  trial  of  it, 
and  see  if  it  does  not  make  you  a  happier,  a  wiser,  a  better 
man.  If  it  fail,  then  you  have  lost  nothing ;  if  it  succeed, 
then  you  have  gained  the  very  kingdom  of  heaven  itself. 
Do  you  wish  to  apply  and  illustrate  this  expression? 
"  Come  and  see." 

Christianity  transforms  the  heart.  Come  and  try  it,  and 
see  if  that  be  not  its  effect.  Has  not  the  drunkard  become 
sober  ?  has  not  the  churl  become  liberal  ?  have  not  the  dis- 
honest become  lionest  ?  have  not  the  profligate  become  pure, 
and  correct,  and  holy  in  their  conduct  ?  And  have  not  all 
of  them  together  acknowledged  that  in  the  gospel  there  wa3 
what  proved  to  them  the  savor  of  life  ?  They  came  and 
saw  ;  they  remain,  and  worship,  and  adore,  and  praise.  Do 
you  doubt  the  influence  of  the  gospel  again  on  countries? 
Do  you  think  there  cannot  be  a  Christian  country  ?  Just 
come  and  see.  Look  at  nations  that  are  without  religion, 
or  at  nations  that  are  under  a  corrupt  religion  ;  —  and  the 
corruption  of  the  best  religion  is  always  the  worst  thing. 
Come  and  see  a  nation  that  has  education  saturated  by  liv- 
ing religion ;  come  and  see  a  nation  where  the  gospel  is 
fully  and  faithfully  and  everywhere  preached  ;  Avhere  fami- 
lies worship,  where  communities  wait  upon  the  outward  ser- 
vice of  God.  Come  and  see  them,  and  you  will  find  the 
difference  between  the  first  and  the  last  unspeakable.  You 
will  learn  that  righteousness  does  exalt  a  nation ;  that  the 
absence  of  it,  or  the  contrary  of  it,  is  the  ruin  of  any  nation. 
If  you  wish  to  know  that  there  is  a  transforming  power  in 
this  religion,  take  any  sphere,  any  plattbrm  that  you  like, 
and  wherever  the  experiment  has  been  honestly  made  the 
result  has  invariably  followed  of  "  glory  to  God,  on  earth 
peace,  good-will  among  mankind."  Do  you  again  doubt 
whether  this  religion  can  comfort  and  console  you  in  trouble  ? 
Ask  those  who  have  tried  it,  —  ask  the  widow,  the  orphan, 


16  SCRH'TUKH    READINGS. 

the  sick,  the  suffering,  tlie  afflicted,  the  dying,  and  they  will 
all  tell  you  that  they  have  found  in  this  Book  prescriptions 
that  have  been  power,  that  they  have  found  in  that  Saviour 
the  consolation  of  Israel ;  that  they  have  tasted  in  this  gos- 
pel compensatory  virtues  that  have  made  their  ligiit  ahlic- 
tion,  which  was  but  for  a  moment,  not  wortliy  to  be  com- 
pared with  the  glory  that  this  blessed  book  reveals.  And 
if  you  yoursehes  are  afflicted,  troubled,  cast  down,  try  the 
cisterns  of  this  world,  and  you  will  find  them  broken  cis- 
terns ;  seek  the  sympathy  of  Christ,  look  to  Ilim  who  alone 
can  save,  and  sanctify,  and  comfort,  and  you  will  find  that 
his  consolations  are  not  few. 

We  find  here  an  illustration  of  the  effect  of  the  experi- 
ment, "  Come  and  see."  Nathanael,  prejudiced,  as  he  was, 
had  the  good  sense  to  take  the  advice  of  Philip  his  teacher. 
Nathanael  Avas  a  Jew,  with  a  great  many  Jewish  ^^rejudices, 
but  with  a  great  deal  of  Jewish  piety.  And  there  were 
true  believers  among  the  Jews,  ready  to  hail  the  Saviour 
when  that  Saviour  was  presented  to  them.  And  it  is  said 
therefore  of  Nathanael,  when  he  came,  that  Jesus  saw  him 
coming  to  him.  '•  Philip  saith  to  him,  Come  and  see.  Jesus 
saw  Nathanael  coming  to  him,  and  saith  of  him.  Behold  an 
Israelite  indeed,  in  whom  is  no  guile  ! "  That  was  a  high 
character  ;  as  much  as  to  say,  "  Here  is  a  Jew  who  is  very 
much  superior  to  the  mass  of  the  Jews  around  him,  and  he 
is  an  Israelite  in  whom  is  no  duplicity,  crookedness  of  mind. 
He  is  a  man  that  has  not  much  light,  but  he  acts  up  to  the 
light  that  he  has.  He  is  a  man  who  never  does  a  disingen- 
uous thing,  though  many  times  he  may  do  an  imperfect 
thing  ;  but  whatever  he  does,  it  is  sincere,  honest,  inwardly 
in  his  heart  what  it  looks  outwardly  in  his  life.  Sincerity 
in  error  will  not  save  you,  and  insincerity  in  truth  will  not 
save  you.  A  man  who  is  sincerely  wrong  is  not  therefore 
justilied,  any  more  than  a  man  who  is  insincerely  riglit. 
Sincerity  is  a  beautiful  grace,  without  which  there  cannot  be 


JOHN   I.  17 

true  religion  ;  l)iit  there  may  be  fixlse  religion  with  perfect 
sincerity.  But  this  we  are  sure  of,  that  he  who  sincerely 
acts  up  to  the  light  that  he  has,  will  not  be  left  to  grope  in  final 
darkness.  The  humblest  inquirer  who  has  honestly  doubted 
of  Christianity,  is  nearer  the  kingdom  of  heaven  than  the 
most  enlightened  orthodox  pi'ofessor,  who  knows  the  truths 
in  the  Bible,  but  has  not  with  the  heart  received,  or  in  the 
life  exhibited,  any  of  them.  It  is  therefore  sincerity  that 
seems  to  be  essential  to  the  saving  influence  of  truth,  though 
in  itself  not  a  saving  grace. 

When  Jesus  uttered  these  words,  "  Behold  an  Israelite 
indeed,  in  whom  is  no  guile,"  Nathanael  said  unto  him, 
"  Whence  knowest  thou  me  ?  "  —  I  am  a  stranger  to  you, 
how  is  it  that  thou  knowest  me  ?  "  Jesus  answered  and 
said  unto  him.  Before  that  Philip  called  thee,  when  thou 
Avast  under  the  fig-tree,  I  saw  thee."  In  other  words,  Christ 
saw  Nathanael  before  Nathanael  saw  Christ ;  and  so  it  is 
still.  Christ  sees  his  people  before  they  see  him,  calls  them 
before  they  answer  him,  takes  notice  of  them  before  they 
take  notice  of  him.  But  tlie  effect  of  this  upon  Nathanael 
Avas  remarkable.  Nathanael  saw  in  "Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
the  son  of  Joseph,"  as  Philip  called  him,  something  more 
than  that ;  for  he  instantly  turns  round  and  says,  "  Eabbi, 
thou  art  the  Son  of  God  ;  thou  art  the  King  of  Israel."  Now 
how  beautiful  is  this  !  The  pupil  rises  to  a  loftier  position 
than  his  teacher  ;  Philip  the  teacher  saw  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
the  son  of  Joseph  ;  Nathanael  the  pupil,  sincerely  accepting 
what  he  was  taught,  rises  to  a  higher  level,  sees  Jesus  the 
Son  of  God,  the  King  of  Israel.  Thus  the  congregation 
may  outgrow  the  pastor,  the  pupil  may  excel  the  teacher ; 
Nathanael  became  wiser  than  Phihp,  his  first  and  earliest 
instructor.  Jesus  was  so  pleased  with  Nathanael's  progress 
that  he  said  to  him,  "  Because  I  said  unto  thee,  I  saw  thee 
under  the  fig-tree,  believest  thou  ?  thou  shalt  see  greater 
things  than  these."     Because  you  have  acted  up  to  the  light 

2* 


18  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

that  you  had,  because  you  have  expressed  conviction  exactly 
the  measure  of  what  you  felt,  I  will  carry  you  on  from  grace 
to  grace,  from  light  to  light.  "  Thou  shalt  see  greater 
things  than  these."  And  the  first  great  thing  you  will  see 
is  what  Philip  had  not  yet  seen,  —  the  Son  of  God,  the 
great  Mediator,  like  Jacob's  ladder,  uniting  together  heaven 
and  earth ;  God  with  man,  and  man  with  God,  and  heaven 
and  earth  once  united  again,  never  to  be  separated. 

"We  may  have  many  flaws  and  imperfections,  and  yet  be 
Christians.  Nathanael  was  a  Christian  without  guile,  but 
with  much  darkness  and  many  defects.  It  perhaps  remains 
to  be  seen  how  many  errors  may  cleave  to  an  individual 
who  is  notwithstanding  a  true  Christian ;  how  there  may  be 
very  little  light,  and  yet  enough  to  see  Christ  the  Mediator, 
the  angels  of  God  ascending  and  descending  upon  the  Son 
of  Man.  Many  a  one  cannot  express  his  Christianity  with 
his  lips  when  asked  to  give  a  reason  for  the  faith  that  is  in 
him,  who  loves  it  and  would  die  for  it  if  needs  be.  But 
because  Christianity  is  accompanied  by  much  imjierfection, 
we  must  not  be  satisfied  with  what  we  have,  but  press 
onwards  to  things  that  are  before,  growing  in  grace  and  in 
knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 


CHAPTER  II. 

FIKST    MIRACLE. A   FESTAL     SCENE. MARY     PRESENT. MARIOL- 

ATRY.  —  VCLGATE     VERSION.  THE     FATHERS. — AVATER     MADE 

WINE. DRUNKENNESS. CLEANSING    THE    TEMPLE. 

It  does  seem  not  the  least  beautiful  characteristic  of  the 
blessed  Gospel,  that  it  dawned  on  mankind  not  in  the  shape 
of  anathema  or  a  judgment,  or  even  of  sadness,  but  of  a 
nuptial  benediction.  The  first  miracle  that  Jesus  wrought 
was  not  at  the  grave,  where  the  mourners  deplored  the 
burial  of  the  dead,  but  in  the  festal  hall,  where  friends 
and  relatives  rejoiced  together  at  the  marriage  of  the  living. 
It  was  at  a  marriage  in  Cana  of  Galilee.  It  shows  us 
that  Jesus  sanctioned  joyous  scenes,  as  well  as  prepared 
us  to  sympathize  with  soitow  in  suffering  ones.  It  seems 
as  if  he  would  go  forth  to  i-ejoice  with  them  that  did  rejoice, 
before  he  Avent  out  to  weep  with  them  that  did  weep.  And 
the  whole  of  this  interesting  and  beautiful  narrative  proves 
that  the  religion  of  Jesus,  the  blessed  Gospel,  is  not  hostile 
to  the  innocent  enjoyments  of  mankind,  but  sweetens,  con- 
secrates, and  sanctifies  them.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  sup- 
pose that  true  religion  makes  men  anchorites  and  monks, 
and  women  nuns  ;  it  does  no  such  thing.  It  asks  men  to  be 
in  the  world,  but  not  of  the  world.  Our  blessed  Master 
will  preside  wherever  the  heart  beats  happy,  wherever  the 
festive  scene  is,  provided  there  be  nothing  in  it  inconsistent 
with  purity,  with  holiness,  with  truth  and  righteousness.  It 
is  stated,  as  an  incident  in  the  scene.  "  The  mother  of  Jesus 
was  there."     It  is  after  this  instance,  that  you  will  see  Mary 

(19) 


20  SCRIPTURE    KEADIXGS. 

the  mother  of  Jesus  retreat  into  the  shadow,  and  Jesus,  the 
Son  of  God,  become  all  and  in  all.  I  have  not  the  least 
doubt  that  this  instance  is  stated  with  jirophetic  reference. 
Jesus  saw  the  jjlace  that  Mary  would  be  forcibly  lifted  to  in 
the  practice  of  a  corrupt  Church  ;  and  in  order  to  anticipate 
the  perversion  of  a  holy  relationship,  and  to  give  a  right 
idea  of  the  jilace  she  ought  to  occupy,  this  incident  is  so 
graphically  recorded.  "  And  both  Jesus  Avas  called,  and  his 
disciples,  to  the  naarriage."  He  did  not  say,  "  It  is  wrong  to 
go  there ; "  he  did  not  say,  "  It  is  incompatible  with  my 
position  to  be  there."  There  are  Christians  in  this  Avorld 
who  have,  not  pure  consciences,  but  very  scrupulous  con- 
sciences. They  would  have  said,  "  We  ought  not  to  go 
there ;  it  is  too  joyous  and  too  glad  a  scene."  But  they 
Avould  have  concluded  wrong.  Wherever  the  blessed  Mas- 
ter went,  there  the  holiest  and  the  best  of  his  people  may 
go.  Wherever  you  can  ask  no  blessing  upon  what  you 
engage  in,  there  you  ought  not  to  be ;  but  where  you  can 
ask  a  blessing  upon  what  you  engage  in,  there  you  need  not 
be  afraid  to  be,  if  summoned  to  it  in  the  good  providence  of 
God. 

It  seems  that  on  this  occasion  the  entertaining  parties 
wanted  wine  ;  or,  as  it  ought  to  be  justly  translated,  "  The 
wine  failed."  The  expression,  "  They  wanted  wine,"  is  very 
much  like  the  idiom  of  the  French.  It  means  wine  failed, 
or  wine  ran  short.  "  The  mother  of  Jesus,"  we  read,  "  saith 
unto  him.  They  have  no  wine  "  —  wine  is  wanting.  Now, 
various  interpretations  or  explanations  have  been  given  of 
this.  Some  think  she  knew  that  he  could  do  miracles, 
though  this  is  the  first  miracle  he  did,  and  she  could  have 
had  no  precedent  to  sanction  her  in  this  belief.  Others 
think  that  she  wanted  him  to  retire  from  the  festival  be- 
cause the  wine  failed,  —  as  she  would  not  expose  the  pov- 
erty and  necessity  of  her  relatives,  to  whose  festival  she 
■was  on  this  occasion  invited.     And  others  think  that  she 


JOHN    U.  21 

said  so  simply  as  a  remark,  "  They  have  no  wine  ; "  and  she 
expi'essed  her  regret  and  her  grief  that  it  was  so.  You 
may  put  any  of  these  interpretations  on  tlie  text :  the  words 
are  given :  tlie  explanation  is  not  added ;  for  the  Scriptures 
reveal  all  that  is  important  for  us  to  know,  nothing  to  sat- 
isfy the  mere  idle  curiosity  of  the  reader.  Then,  Jesus, 
apparently  understanding  that  she  wished  him  to  work  a 
miracle  ;  that  she  hinted  the  duty  of  working  a  miracle ;  or 
at  least  his  duty  to  supply  from  his  natural  resources  the 
deficiency  that  was  obvious  enough  in  the  provision  for  the 
marriage  feast,  answers,  "  Woman,  what  have  I  to  do  with 
thee  ?  Mine  hour  is  not  yet  come."  This  reply  extermi- 
nates at  qnce  the  Mariolatry,  as  it  has  been  called,  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church.  The  expression,  "  woman,"  how- 
ever, it  is  right  to  notice,  is  not  disrespectful ;  it  is  not  a 
harsh  expression ;  it  is  frequently  applied  in  Scripture,  and 
denotes  respect.  It  is  something  like  "  lady  "  —  "  Woman, 
what  have  I  to  do  with  thee  ?  "  And  Jesus  meant  that  to 
teach  what  he  afterwards  teaches  in  the  gospel,  that  her 
relationship  to  him  as  a  mother  must  now  retreat  into  the 
background ;  while  his  relationship  to  the  Father  of  all 
and  the  brethren  must  alone  be  prominent,  luminous,  and 
visible. 

Hence,  on  subsequent  occasions,  when  they  said  to  him, 
"  Thy  mother  and  thy  brethren  are  waiting  without ; "  his 
answer  was,  "  Who  is  my  mother,  and  who  are  my  brethren, 
but  they  that  hear  the  word  of  God  and  do  it  ?  "  Let  us 
notice  in  the  whole  history  of  Jesus  the  gradual  retreat  of 
Mary  into  the  obscurity  that  belongs  to  her,  and  the  gradual 
procession  of  Jesus  into  the  glory  that  he  had  with  the  Fa- 
ther before  the  world  was.  This  translation,  "What  have 
I  to  do  with  thee  ? "  I  believe,  is  scarcely  correct ;  but  in- 
stead of  accepting  a  softer  translation,  as  the  Romanists 
would  have,  it  appeai-s  to  me  that  it  is  susceptible  of  a  much 
more  decided  one.      It  is  not,  "  What  have  I  to  do  with 


22  SCUIPTURE    HEADINGS. 

thee  ?  "  but  really,  "  What  hast  thou  to  do  with  me  ?  "  That 
is  the  true  rendering.  The  words  are  in  the  original,  Tl 
ifiol  Kal  aoi  •  and  according  to  the  Greek  idiom,  the  <^oi  is  the 
leading  pronoun  ;  and  therefore  it  ought  to  be,  "  What  hast 
thou  to  do  with  me  ?  "  not,  "  What  have  I  to  do  with  thee  ?  " 
Jesus  had  much  to  do  with  her ;  he  had  to  wash  her  spirit 
in  his  precious  blood,  and  to  admit  her,  a  poor  sinner,  to 
everlasting  joy :  but  she  had  nothing  to  do  with  him  in  the 
way  of"  helping  him.  He  must  tread  the  winepress  alone ; 
of  the  people  there  must  be  none  with  him :  he  must  suffer 
alone,  die  alone,  and  so  receive  the  glory  alone  ;  and  as  no 
one  shared  in  his  sorrows,  none  must  share  in  his  glory 
and  his  exaltation. 

Now,  let  me  state  here  what  has  been  said  before,  but  not 
on  that  account  the  less  valuable  —  that  the  Greek  words 
here  rendered,  "  What  have  I  to  do  with  thee  ?  "  occur  in 
the  Septuagint  translation  out  of  the  Hebrew  into  Greek  of 
the  Old  Testament  and  in  the  Greek  New  Testament  about 
twelve  times.  I  have  searched  them  out  very  carefully. 
They  occur  about  twelve  times.  Now,  in  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic version  of  the  Bible,  which  they  say  is  the  best,  eleven 
times  they  translate  the  words  precisely  as  we  do  —  "  What 
have  I  to  do  with  thee  ?  "  but  the  twelfth  time  they  ti'ans- 
late  the  words,  "  What  is  to  thee  and  to  me  ?  "  Now,  you 
ask,  where  does  the  twelfth  occur  ?  It  occurs  in  this  very 
passage.  Is  it  not  singular  that  in  eleven  instances  they 
render  the  words  exactly  as  we  do ;  but  in  the  twelfth  in- 
stance, which  happens  to  refer  to  a  peculiar  dogma  of  their 
own,  they  give  a  novel,  and,  I  venture  to  assert,  an  unmean- 
ing translation  ?  Every  Greek  scholar  knows  that  their 
translation  —  the  Roman  Catholic  translation  —  is  most 
rigidly  literal,  but  it  is  most  incorrect;  and  everybody  that 
is  acquainted  with  French,  or  German,  or  Greek,  or  Latin, 
knows  quite  well  that  the  rendering  of  a  phrase  word  for 
word  will  often  make  nonsense  of  it ;  whereas,  an  idiom  in 


JOHX  11.  23 

any  language  requires  to  be  rendered  not  word  for  word, 
but  strictly,  and  properly,  and  justly  into  a  corresponding 
idiom  in  another  language.  The  Koman  Catholic  transla- 
tion is  literally  correct,  but  morally  and  truly  wrong.  They 
themselves  are  the  best  proofs  of  it ;  —  that  in  eleven  in- 
stances they  have  rendered  the  words  exactly  as  we  do ; 
but  in  the  twelfth  case,  which  relates  to  the  Virgin  Mary, 
evidently  suspecting  that  it  tells  upon  that  doctrine,  they 
have  diluted  and  rendered  them  by  a  new,  a  strange,  and,  I 
venture  to  assert,  unmeaning  phrase  —  "What  is  to  thee 
and  to  me  ?  " 

In  the  next  place,  I  have  been  at  the  trouble  —  having 
paid  some  attention  to  this  subject,  and  therefore  it  is  right 
to  state  it  on  this  occasion  —  to  refer  to  the  writings  of  what 
are  called  the  Fathers  ;  those  that  I  have  looked  into  espec- 
ially are  the  writings  of  Chrysostom,  and  Jerome,  and  Ter- 
tullian,  and  the  earlier  Fathers,  both  of  the  Eastern  and 
the  Western  branches  of  the  visible  Church.  I  think  every 
father  —  (I  will  not  say  every  father,  lest  there  might  be  an 
exception,  but  almost  every  father,  every  one  that  I  have 
consulted  ;  and  I  have  searched  the  best  edition  of  them  — 
the  Benedictine  edition)  —  regards  the  words  of  Jesus  on 
this  occasion  as  a  rebuke.  Chrysostom  says,  that  Jesus  on 
this  occasion  rebuked  her,  o^odporepov^  that  is,  rather  sharply. 
Another  father  says,  that  upon  this  occasion  Jesus  repelled 
the  intrusion  of  his  mother.  Our  Eoman  Catholic  friends 
are  bound,  and  every  convert  to  that  Church  is  bound,  by 
the  creed  which  he  repeats,  —  '•'  I  will  never  take  and  inter- 
pret the  Scrijitures,  unless  according  to  the  unanimous  con- 
sent of  the  Fathers."  Now  I  assert,  —  and  I  challenge  the 
most  accomplished  scholar  in  the  Eoman  Catholic  Church  to 
contradict  what  I  assert,  —  that  the  fathers  are  nearly  unan- 
imous in  declaring  that  Jesus  rebuked  the  Virgin  Mary  upon 
this  occasion.  And  if  so,  the  Roman  Catholics  are  bound 
to  interpret  accordingly ;  while  they  really  do  not  do  so,  as 


24  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

their  use  of  this  passage  most  clearly  proves.  The  fact  is, 
they  treat  the  Fathers  like  slaves.  Whilst  the  Fathers 
seem  to  support  their  opinions,  they  are  "  the  glorious 
Fathers ; "  but  whenever  the  Fathers  choose  to  say  what 
the  Church  of  Rome  does  not  like,  then  she  dismisses  them, 
and  puts  them  in  the  background,  and  sends  them  away 
from  her  presence  as  not  worthy  of  deference.  The  real 
truth  is,  the  Church  of  Rome  assumes  dictatorial  power ;  and 
everybody  that  speaks  with  her  and  echoes  her  sentiments 
is  every  thing  that  is  good ;  but  anybody,  from  the  first 
Father  to  the  last  Reformer,  that  dares  to  think  for  himself, 
or  to  sjieak  honestly  what  he  thinks,  is  a  heretic,  a  schis- 
matic, to  be  punished  with  fire,  the  fagot,  and  the  sword,  or 
any  other  canonical  weapons  that  the  popes  of  that  Church 
may  have  consecrated  for  such  pui-poses. 

Mary,  conscious  of  her  rebuke,  "  saith  unto  the  servants, 
Whatsoever  he  saith  unto  you,  do : "  as  much  as  to  say, 
"  Do  not  mind  me  ;  I  have  no  authority,  I  have  no  jurisdic- 
tion." "  What  he  saith  unto  you,  do."  Not,  "  What  I  say 
unto  you,  do."  How  inconsistent  is  this  with  the  language 
of  "  The  Glories  of  Mary,"  a  book  published  under  the 
sanction  and  authority  of  Cardinal  Wiseman  in  1853.  The 
Roman  Catholics  there  celebrate  her  as  the  Queen  of  heaven, 
with  power  and  jurisdiction  over  her  Son  ;  poor  Mary 
had  no  such  knowledge  of,  nor  any  such  power,  for  she 
turns  away  the  thoughts  of  the  people  from  the  mother,  and 
fixes  them  upon  him  who  alone  has  authority,  and  juris- 
diction, and  power ;  saying,  "  Whatsoever  he  saith  unto 
you,  do." 

We  read  there  were  "  six  waterpots  of  stone  ; "  these 
were  filled  with  water  up  to  the  brim.  It  was  an  immense 
quantity  ;  I  do  not  know  how  many  gallons ;  I  should  say 
several  hundred  ;  it  must  have  been  a  very  large  quantity. 
"  And  he  saith  unto  them.  Draw  out  now,  and  bear  unto  the 
governor  of  the  feast ; "  and,  instead  of  water,  they  drew 


JOHN   II.  25 

out  wine.  Now  here  some  object,  especially  those  who  have 
very  strict,  not  temperance,  but  abstinence  notions.  Tliey 
say  —  at  least  some  have  said ;  I  do  not  think  Christian 
persons  would  say  so  in  this  country  —  that  it  was  very 
strange,  that  Jesus  actually  turned  some  hundred  gallons  of 
water  into  wine  ;  whereas,  if  he  had  desired  that  temperance 
should  prevail,  he  would  have  only  turned  one  of  these 
waterpots,  containing  some  few  gallons  of  water,  into  wine. 
Now,  my  answer  is  simply  this :  —  it  is  not  the  quantity  of 
wine  that  makes  the  drunkard,  but  it  is  the  depravity  of  the 
heart  and  spirit  of  the  man  that  makes  the  drunkard.  For 
instance,  one  who  is  really  temperate  would  drink  from  a 
cask  of  twenty  gallons,  and  not  get  drunk ;  one  who  is  a 
drunkard  will  drink  from  a  gallon,  a  bottle,  or  a  single  quart, 
and  get  intoxicated.  It  is  not,  you  observe,  the  quantity 
that  is  in  the  landlord's  cellar,  but  the  character  that  is  in 
the  landlord's  heart  that  is  the  secret  of  intemperance.  And, 
therefore,  our  blessed  Lord  turning  so  many  gallons  of  water 
into  Avine  was  not  an  encouragement  of  intoxication,  any 
more  than  a  glorious  vintage  is  an  encouragement  to  intoxi- 
cation. The  vintage  in  France  last  year  was  most  defec- 
tive ;  you  will  find  men  will  not  be  a  bit  more  sober  who 
are  disposed  to  indulge  in  excess  in  consequence.  On  the 
other  hand,  in  another  year  we  may  have  a  glorious  vintage, 
but  that  will  not  make  men  more  intoxicated. 

The  truth  is,  no  mechanical  arrangement,  no  shutting  of 
shops,  will  ever  make  men  sober.  What  is  wanted  is  the 
change  of  heart,  the  transformation  of  the  spirit,  the  regen- 
eration of  the  soul  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God.  Most 
entirely  do  I  agree  with  the  Abstinence  Society  in  their 
movement,  that  if  possible  all  those  public-houses  and  gin- 
shops  should  be  wholly  shut  upon  Sunday.  They  are  now 
shut  till  one  o'clock,  and  I  think  it  would  be  well  were  they 
shut  all  the  day.  An  admirable  law,  jirevailing  or  proposed, 
I  have  heard,  in  America,  is,  that  any  person  that  goes  into 

3 


26  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

a  public-house  on  Sunday  is  not  obliged  to  pay  for  -what  he 
drinks.  Now,  if  our  Government  would  pass  a  law  that 
any  thing  had  in  public-houses  on  that  day  there  should  be 
no  obligation  to  pay  for,  I  think  that  would  contribute  mate- 
rially to  put  an  end  to  drunkenness  on  the  Sabbath.  It  would 
be  an  admirable  regulation,  and  could  do  no  harm  to  either 
pai'ty.  But  still,  all  this  at  best  would  be  mere  mechanical 
adjustment,  and  not  moral  reformation.  At  the  same  time, 
much  less  of  alcohol  might  be  used  by  all  than  is  used.  A 
person  in  perfect  health  does  not  require  alcoholic  liquors. 
I  use  the  word  alcohol  for  all  the  different  spirituous  liquors, 
for  they  are  all  the  same  thing,  the  coloring  matter  or  es- 
sential oil  being  the  chief  difference.  I  do  not  think  that  a 
person  in  perfect  health  requires  such  stimulants.  You 
may  take  them  if  you  like.  Tiiey  are  good  in  cholera,  and 
some  other  diseases,  as  physicians  Avill  tell  you ;  but  to  a 
person  in  perfect  health,  I  doubt  if  they  do  any  good  at  all. 
At  the  same  time  T  cannot  see  my  way  to  conclude  with  my 
temperance  friends,  whose  principles  I  respect  most  pro- 
foundly, whose  efforts  and  energies  are  most  philanthropic, 
that  the  working  man,  who  toils  twelve,  fourteen,  sixteen 
hours  a  day,  eats  very  little  meat  and  very  poor  bread,  should 
not  be  allowed  his  beer.  I  am  quite  sure  that  beer  is  most 
useful  to  the  working  man  in  moderation,  and  there  is  noth- 
ing in  Christianity  that  forbids  it ;  and  I  think  we  have  no 
right  to  take  away  from  him  what  in  moderation  must  do 
him  good,  and  is  not  forbidden,  or  likely  to  injure  the  claims 
and  the  progress  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  Jesus.  But  those 
who  have  plenty  of  good  food  might  take  less  of  alcoholic 
stimulants  than  they  do.  Yet  this  passage  proves  more 
than  this.  I  am  at  liberty  to  take  wine  when  it  is  essen- 
tially necessary  to  my  health,  and  not  to  take  it  if  I  think  it 
is  of  no  use.  But  more  than  this,  at  the  marriage  festival 
Jesus  wrought  the  miracle  not  to  supply  what  was  necessary 
for  their  health,  but  what  contributed  to  their  enjoyment. 


joiix  ir.  27 

And  therefore  I  maintain  that  it  is  lawful  to  take  wine  in 
moderation,  not  only  as  a  medicine,  but  as  an  enjoyment. 
Whenever  men  profess  or  tiy  to  be  holier  than  Clu-ist  they 
will  end  in  the  very  reverse ;  and  when  we  try  to  act  on 
principles  purer  than  those  of  the  New  Testament,  we  run 
the  risk  of  landing  in  evil.  In  its  place,  at  the  proper 
time,  it  is  right  to  take  wine  as  an  enjoyment ;  and  my 
authority  is  the  example  of  our  blessed  Lord.  Now  I  never 
can  take  up  the  principle  avowed  by  some  on  this  subject,  as 
long  as  I  read  this  chapter  of  the  Gospel  according,  to  St. 
John.  I  can  conceive  teetotalism  expedient,  I  can  respect 
the  conscience  of  them  that  think  so ;  I  wish  every  success 
to  their  efforts  in  making  men  take  less  of  alcoholic  stimu- 
lants ;  but  I  never  can  admit  the  principle  that  it  is  wrong 
to  take  wine  even  as  an  enjoyment,  whilst  this  chapter 
stands  in  the  Bible. 

After  this,  our  blessed  Lord  went  into  the  temple  ;  and 
we  read  that  there  were  there  "  those  that  sold  oxen,  and 
sheep,  and  doves,  and  the  changers  of  money  sitting."  This 
Avas  necessary,  in  order  to  change  the  Roman  coin  into  the 
local  or  the  sacred  coins  of  the  sanctuary.  But  instead  of 
facilitating  this  change,  they  had  made  the  outer  courts  of 
the  temple  almost  houses  of  business :  they  had  turned 
sanctuaries  into  shops,  and  the  sacred  temple  into  a  grand 
exchange.  Jesus  went  in  with  all  the  authority  of  a  king, 
and  "  drove  out  the  sheep  and  the  oxen,  and  poured  out  the 
changers'  money,  and  overthew  the  tables ;  and  said  unto 
them  that  sold  doves,"  —  there  is  something  very  instructive 
in  this :  he  drove  out  the  sheep  and  the  oxen,  he  overturned 
the  tables  of  the  money-changers  ;  but  "  he  said  unto  them 
that  sold  doves.  Take  these  things  hence"  —  because  the 
offering  of  the  doves  belonged  to  the  poor,  the  rest  belonged 
to  the  rich.  Then  he  said,  "  Take  these  things  hence :  make 
not  my  Father's  house  a  house  of  merchandise  : "  "  for  it  is 


28  SCniPTURE    READINGS. 

written,"  as  he  said  in  another  Gospel,  "  My  house  shall  be 
called  a  house  of  prayer  for  all  people."  A  corresponding  pas- 
sage in  a  previous  Gospel,  was  that  upon  which  Knox  preached 
in  the  church  of  St.  Andrew's.  A  painter  has  sketched  this 
scene  with  greal  skill,  and  rendered  the  principal  characters 
with  great  faithfulness.  Knox  preached  in  the  cathedral  or 
parish  church  of  St.  Andrew's,  whilst  the  popish  archbishops 
of  Glasgow  and  St.  Andrew's  wei'C  present  looking  on. 
You  will  see  in  the  picture  a  soldier  with  a  musket  in  his 
hand,  saying,  while  Knox  was  thundering  from  the  pulpit  to 
the  archbishop,  "  Shall  I  shoot  him  ?  "  and  the  archbishop, 
with  more  cunning  than  otherwise,  said,  "  No  ; "  and  Knox, 
fearless  in  his  Master's  service,  proclaimed  those  great  truths 
which  so  shook  the  papacy  throughout  Scotland,  that  the 
rooks'  nests  were  torn  down,  and  the  rooks  have  not  ven- 
tured to  come  back  again.  Hence,  while  in  England,  in 
1850,  the  pope  created  archbishops  and  bishops,  he  felt  — 
and  it  shows  he  has  more  good  sense  than  some  give  him 
credit  for  —  that  Scotland  is  not  ripe  for  an  aggression,  and 
therefore  he  has  not  ventured  to  inflict  it :  so  powerful  is 
one  master-spirit  at  the  time  he  is  wanted,  and  so  lasting 
are  the  effects  when  God's  house  is  thoroughly  cleansed 
from  impurity.  And  let  me  say  to  brethren  of  the  sister 
Church  of  England — a  Church  signalized  by  the  faithful- 
ness of  many  of  its  ministers,  by  the  high  Protestantism  of 
its  Articles,  —  that  if  Cranmer  and  Latimer  and  Ridley 
had  been  permitted  to  do,  not  all  that  Knox  did,  but  more 
than  they  were  able,  you  would  not  have  heard  of  baptismal 
regeneration,  transubstantiation,  and  many  of  those  notions 
that  are  now  dragging  Romanism  in  its  worst  and  most  per- 
nicious forms  into  the  very  house  of  God ;  as  if  it  were 
again  to  be  made  a  den  of  thieves,  instead  of  a  sanctuary 
and  a  house  of  prayer  for  all  people.  "We  learn  from  all 
this,  that  the  true  way  is  not  the  way  of  expediency,  but 


joiix  ir.  29 

the  way  of  principle.  Put  out  what  is  wrong,  and  do  not 
ask  if  it  be  expedient :  retain  what  is  wrong  in  order  to 
conciliate,  and  the  result  Avill  be  most  disastrous.  Truth 
and  duty  are  always  expedient ;  expediency  is  not  always 
truth  and  duty. 

3* 


CHAPTER  III. 

PROVIDENCE  AND  GRACE.  —  NICODEMUS.  —  REASON  FOR  COMING  TO 
JESUS  BY  NIGHT. WISDOM  OF  OUR  LORD's  TEACHING. BAP- 
TISM.   REGENERATION.  SUDDEN      CONVERSIONS.  —  EARTHLY 

THINGS   AND    HEAVENLY. BRASS    SERPENT. GOD'S    LOVE. 

The  chapter  I  have  read  is  so  replete  with  doctrinal, 
practical,  and  comforting  instruction,  that  it  would  take  many 
hours  to  exhaust  its  meaning,  or  even  to  make  it  as  plain  as 
it  should  be  ;  and  yet  it  needs  not  to  be  made  plain  —  it  is 
one  of  those  beautiful  chapters,  those  touching  incidents, 
that  need  only  to  be  read  in  order  to  be  admired  and  under- 
stood, if  not  in  all  the  length  and  breadth  and  full  extent  of 
its  meaning.  The  conversation  arose  mainly  from  an  inci- 
dent. Very  remarkable  it  is,  as  if  to  show  how  providence 
and  grace  are  linked  together ;  the  most  precious  truths  in 
the  four  Gospels,  and  indeed  in  all  the  Epistles,  were  re- 
vealed, as  the  world  would  call  it,  accidentally,  as  we  call  it, 
incidentally,  or  from  circumstances  that  occurred  in  the 
providence  of  God,  and  became  the  suggestive  nuclei,  or 
texts  of  very  precious  and  very  important  discourses.  On 
this  occasion  the  incident  was  the  arrival  of  a  distinguished 
Pharisee,  —  at  the  head,  probably,  of  the  Sanhedrim,  not  im- 
probably its  president,  —  a  man  of  great  shrewdness,  sagac- 
ity, and  worldly  wisdom,  who,  hearing  of  what  Jesus  was 
and  said,  resolved  to  go  and  make  inquiry,  or  learn  for  him- 
self. He  said,  likely,  "  I  cannot  go  by  day,  —  i.  e.  amid 
light,  —  for  that  would  so  humble  a  chief  ruler  of  the  Jews, 

(30) 


JOHN    III.  31 

that  I  should  soon  be  the  scoff  of  the  Sanhedrim  ;  and  if  it 
were  to  be  heard  that  I,  a  chief  Rabbi,  went  to  seek  instruc- 
tion from  the  lips  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  others  might  imitate 
my  example.  But  on  the  other  hand,  I  will  not  and  I  can- 
not be  satisfied  with  second-hand  testimony  ;  I  will  go  in  the 
secret  and  silent  watches  of  the  night,  and  I  will  try  if  I  can 
ascertain  who  this  Jesus  is,  what  his  mission  is,  and  whether 
common  report  speaks  true  when  it  tells  me  that  he  is  the 
promised  Messiah,  *  the  light  to  lighten  the  Gentiles,  and  the 
glory  of  his  people  Israel.'  " 

He  therefore  approaches  Jesus,  ever  accessible,  ever 
ready  to  solve  a  difficulty,  or  to  explain  a  truth,  at  night ; 
and  he  says  to  him  in  language  most  respectful,  "  Rabbi," 
—  that  is,  Sir,  —  "  we  know  that  thou  art  a  teacher  come 
from  God."  There  is  a  great  deal  implied  in  this  :  it  is  as 
much  as  to  say,  "  We  are  not  satisfied  that  thou  art  the 
Messiah,  —  that  we  cannot  admit,  —  but  we  are  satisfied  of 
this,  that  thou  art  a  teacher  come  from  God."  The  Jews 
never  looked  for  the  Messiah  as  a  teacher :  they  looked  for 
him  as  a  king  upon  his  throne,  and  the  pious  only  for  a  high- 
priest  and  sacrifice  for  sins ;  and  therefore,  when  he  said, 
"  We  know  that  thou  art  a  teacher,"  he  evidently  said, "  We 
do  not  believe  that  thou  art  the  Messiah,  —  that  we  cannot 
admit,  —  but  we  are  quite  satisfied  that  thou  hast  a  divine 
mission,  and  art  a  teacher  come  from  God.  And  the  proof 
that  thou  art  so  is,  that  no  man  living  can  do  these  miracles 
that  thou  doest,  except  God  be  with  him."  He  argued  most 
logically,  —  from  the  omnipotence  that  was  in  the  miracles 
to  the  inspiration  of  the  worker  of  them.  We  never  can 
suppose  that  an  omnipotent  hand  will  hold  up  a  falsehood, 
but  that  that  must  be  true  which  God  bows  the  heavens  to 
make  known  among  mankind.  The  reasoning  of  Nicode- 
mus,  therefore,  was  conclusive.  Up  to  this  point,  if  you 
will  allow  the  expression,  Nieodemus,  if  a  Jew  could  ever 
be  said  to  be  so,  was  a  Unitarian  :  he  did  not  believe  in 


82  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

the  Deity  of  Christ,  but  he  believed  that  he  was  a  divine 
teacher,  in  that  the  miracles  that  he  did  were  done  by  God. 
Now,  then,  hear  what  was  Jesus'  reply  ;  and  in  that  reply 
let  us  learn  how  truly  one  said  in  another  Gospel,  "  Never 
man  spake  like  this  man."  He  did  not  enter  into  a  discus- 
sion on  the  evidences  of  Christianity,  —  on  the  weight,  the 
value,  the  nature  of  miracles.  Nicoderaus  intended  to  pro- 
voke a  discussion  on  the  evidences  of  Christianity,  —  that 
is,  a  fight  outside  of  Christianity  ;  but  our  blessed  Master 
would  not  allow  the  contest  to  be  waged  outside,  he  at  once 
brought  him  inside,  and  said,  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto 
thee,  Except  a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see  the  king- 
dom of  God ; "  as  if  he  had  said,  "  Nicodemus,  it  is  not 
learning  that  you  want,  but  life,  —  not  to  have,  but  to  be  ; 
it  is  not  a  new  lesson,  Nicodemus,  that  you  need,  but  a  new 
heart ;  and  until  that  mighty  change  has  passed  upon  you, . 
which  makes  all  things  new,  if  I  proceed  to  discuss  the  cre- 
dentials of  Christianity,  it  will  be  productive  of  no  saving 
and  lasting  good."  Here  is  the  great  fact  that  we  ought 
now  to  teach.  It  is  important  to  discuss  the  evidence,  it  is 
important  to  give  a  reason  for  the  truth  and  the  faith  that 
are  in  us  ;  but  the  great  want  in  man's  heart  is  life.  It  is 
not  new  churches  that  we  want,  but  it  is  life  in  the  old  ones. 
The  old  ecclesiastical  machinery  is  good  enough ;  it  only  wants 
good  men  to  manage  it.  The  best  church  in  the  universe, 
with  dead  men  to  manage  it,  will  be  of  no  value  whatever  ; 
and  the  most  corrupt  of  churches,  if  not  apostate,  with  holy 
living  men  to  manage  it,  will  prove  as  the  ambassadress  of 
God,  and  a  henefactress  to  mankind.  And  therefore,  most 
beautifully  does  our  Lord  begin  at  the  beginning ;  and  instead 
of  entering  into  a  long  discussion  that  Nicodemus  suggested, 
he  prostrated  the  Pharisee  in  the  dust,  and  told  him  —  the 
learned  and  accomplished  Eabbi  —  that  what  he  needed 
was  not  discussion,  not  learning,  not  evidence,  but  life,  —  a 
new  heart,  to  be  born  again,  or  to  be  born  from  above,  or 
the  second  time. 


JOHN  III.  33 

Nicodemus  instantly  took  up  the  words  of  our  Lord, 
and  obviously  he  did  so  a  little  nettled  or  irritated,  — 
"  What !  does  he  reply  —  the  teacher  —  does  he  reply  to 
me,  a  Rabbi,  in  that  style  ?  Does  he  knock  me  down  in 
that  off-hand  way  ?  Does  he  refuse  to  enter  into  this  dis- 
cussion, and,  instead  of  that,  does  he  tell  me,  a  Rabbi,  that 
except  I  be  born  again,  I  cannot  enter  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  Why,  the  thing  is  ridiculous ; "  and  with  a  spice 
and  mixture  of  satire,  and  scorn,  and  irony,  Nicodemus 
saith  unto  him,  "  How  can  a  man  be  born  when  he  is 
old  ?  "  —  as  I  am,  —  evidently  treating  this  truth  as  the 
Roman  Catholics  treat  the  text,  "  This  is  my  body  ; "  put- 
ting a  carnal  and  literal  construction  upon  it,  instead  of  its 
just,  moral,  and  spiritual  meaning :  so  true  is  it  that  the 
natural  man  cannot  receive  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 
Then,  mark  how  Jesus  replies  ;  and  here  is  a  precedent  for 
all  controversialists.  Instead  of  retorting  irony  for  irony, 
scorn  for  scorn,  satire  for  satire,  —  instead  of  being  angry 
because  the  pupil  had  been  angry,  —  he  repeats,  with 
greater  solemnity,  but  with  a  quiet,  that  indicates  where 
truth  was,  "  Verily,  I  say  unto  thee "  —  a  Rabbi,  a  chief 
Rabbi,  the  president  of  the  Sanhedrim,  —  "I  say  even  unto 
thee,  Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit,  he 
cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God."  How  very  beauti- 
ful, now,  is  that  precedent !  Whenever  two  parties  fall  out, 
the  one  that  is  most  angry  has  evidently  the  argument  that 
is  most  weak  ;  wherever  there  is  God's  truth,  there  is  true 
quiet,  self-possession,  composure.  Jesus,  the  Truth,  there- 
fore replied  in  "the  language  of  quiet,  but  suggestive  and 
emphatic  rebuke,  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  Except  a 
man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  God." 

Now,  many  have  tried  to  prove  that  here  is  an  allusion  to 
baptism.  Very  many  think,  —  and  I  do  not  know  that  they 
are  wrong,  —  that  this  means,  "  Except  a  man  be  born  of 


34  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

water,  even  of  the  Spirit,"  using  ao?,  and,  in  the  sense  of 
even  ;  just  as  it  is  said,  "  Ye  shall  be  baptized  with  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  with  fire,"  where  it  evidently  means,  "  with  the 
Holy  Ghost,  even  as  with  fire."  So  they  have  thought  that 
the  conjunction  here  does  not  mean  and,  but  even.  I  see  no 
difTiculty,  however,  in  rendering  it,  "  Except  a  man  be  born 
of  water  and  of  the  Spirit."  Baptism  is  admission  into  the 
outer  kingdom,  regeneration  is  admission  into  the  inner 
kingdom.  Whenever  a  person  believes  tlie  truth,  by  bap- 
tism he  makes  profession  of  the  truth ;  and  if  one  were  to 
say  he  believed  the  truth,  but,  being  unbaptized,  refused  to 
be  baptized,  that  man  would  be  either  very  much  mistaken, 
or  not  prepared  to  carry  out  all  that  Christ  commands,  and 
profess  before  men  what  in  his  heart  and  conscience  he  be- 
lieved. And  therefore  all  that  would  be  implied  by  taking 
tliis  text  in  its  strictest  sense  would  be,  "  Except  a  man  by 
outer  baptism  enter  into  the  outer  kingdom,  and  by  regener- 
ation of  heart  enter  into  the  inner  kingdom,  he  can  never  see 
heaven  and  happiness."  Well,  there  is  nothing  heretical  in 
that ;  although,  on  the  other  hand,  it  ought  to  be  stated  that 
Christian  baptism  was  not  instituted  when  this  discourse  was 
given :  it  was  instituted  at  the  close  of  our  Lord's  appear- 
ance upon  earth,  just  previous  to  his  ascension,  after  his  res- 
urrection from  the  dead,  when  he  said,  "  Go  and  teach  all 
nations,  baptizing  them."  The  baptism  of  John,  I  admit, 
existed,  and  baptism  as  a  ceremony  among  the  Jews  exist- 
ed ;  and  the  allusion  to  water  or  cleansing  here  may  be  to 
those  baptisms  ;  as  it  cannot,  except  by  anticipation,  refer  to 
Christian  baptism.  But  in  order  to  show  what  was  the  full 
purport  of  it,  you  will  notice,  that  when  Jesus  repeats  the 
words  in  the  sixth  verse,  he  does  not  use  the  word  ivater 
again,  —  "  That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh,  and  that 
which  is  bom  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit.  Marvel  not  that  I  said 
unto  thee,  Ye  must  be  bom  again  ; "  where  evidently  to  be 
born  of  the  Spirit  is  the  essential  thing,  and  therefore  is  put 


JOHN  III.  35 

as  its  sequel,  oi'  as  that  which  necessarily  and  naturally  fol- 
lows it. 

No  doubt  Nicodemus  was  wondering  at  this ;  he  was  per- 
plexed :  Jesus  therefore  says  to  him,  in  the  seventh  vei'se, 
"  Marvel  not  that  I  said  unto  thee."  Why  should  you  won- 
der at  this  ?  it  is  not  so  extraordinary.  If  you  be  a  Jew, 
you  ought  to  know  that  in  Ezekiel  and  in  Isaiah  there  are 
distinct  allusions  to  God  pouring  out  his  Spirit  upon  all 
flesh  ;  there  are  allusions  to  what  is  equivalent  to  being  born 
again, —  to  have  a  new  heart  and  a  new  spirit;  and  there- 
fore why  should  you,  a  Rabbi,  the  chief  of  the  Sanhedrim, 
marvel  that  I  said  to  you,  "  Ye  must  be  bom  again."  "  The 
wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  sound 
thereof,  but  canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh,  and  whither  it 
goeth :  so  is  every  one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit ;  "  —  a  text 
that,  in  ray  humble  judgment,  disproves  the  opinion  of  those 
who  think  that  everybody  should  be  able  to  say  when,  on 
what  day,  after  what  sermon,  in  Avhat  church  or  chapel  he 
was  born  again,  converted,  or  made  a  Christian.  I  have 
a  strong  conviction  that  there  are  scarcely  such  things  as 
what  are  called  sudden  conversions.  They  seem  so  to  us, 
but  I  do  not  believe  they  really  are  so.  You  know  the 
cloud  that  bursts  has  been  very  long  gathering;  the  harvest 
that  is  reaped  has  been  some  six  months  growing ;  when  the 
cup  is  full,  an  additional  drop  makes  it  overflow,  but  it 
would  require  to  be  full  before :  so  when  a  person  is  sud- 
denly converted,  as  it  is  called,  it  seems  to  me  it  is  in  many 
cases  only  the  crowning  touch  to  a  series  of  touches,  the 
crowning  act  in  a  series  of  incidents  ;  and  that  what  seems 
to  be  instantaneous  is  generally  the  result  of  a  long  and  a 
protracted  process.  So  the  wind  blows  where  it  lists,  and 
you  hear  its  sound,  and  therefore  know  that  it  is  blowing, 
and  feel  its  effects ;  but  know  not  at  what  point  it  rises,  or 
where  it  will  stop,  or  whither  it  goeth :  "  so  is  every  one 
that 'is  born  of  the  Spirit."     You  are  to  judge  of  your  re- 


36  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

generation,  not  by  its  chronology,  but  by  its  fruits ;  not  by 
when  it  was,  but  by  what  it  leads  to,  —  "  By  their  fruits  ye 
shall  know  them." 

Then  Nicodemus,  evidently  awed  and  impressed,  for  truth 
was  gaining  ground,  said  to  him,  "  How  can  these  things 
be  ?  "  Jesus  said.  What !  you  that  indulged  in  irony  —  you 
that  said  satirically,  "  Can  a  man  be  born  when  he  is  old  ?  " 
—  "Art  thou  a  master  in  Israel,"  —  a  teacher  in  Israel, — 
"  and  knowest  not  these  things  ?  "  "  Instead,"  it  conveys, 
"  of  indulging  in  irony  upon  my  remarks,  you  ought  rather 
to  be  humbled  by  a  sense  of  your  own  ignorance."  And 
yet  so  beautifully,  so  charitably  said;  said  with  such  ex- 
quisite grace  and  beauty,  and  yet  force,  that  Nicodemus 
never  could  be  offended,  while  he  felt  he  was  humbled ; 
and,  therefore,  Jesus  says  to  him,  "  If  I  have  told  you  earth- 
ly things,"  —  if  I  have  told  you  what  must  take  place  here, 
and  ye  believe  not,  what  would  be  the  use  of  my  telling  you 
of  heavenly  things  ?  Many  men  say,  "  We  cannot  compre- 
hend how  there  can  be  a  triune  Jehovah."  The  answer  to 
these  persons  is,  If  you  cannot  comprehend  earthly  things, 
how  can  you  expect  to  comprehend  this  ?  Can  you  compre- 
hend the  mysteries  in  a  blade  of  grass  ?  Can  you  compre- 
hend the  connection  between  mind  and  matter,  between  soul 
and  body  ?  You  cannot.  Then,  if  you  cannot  comprehend 
the  lower  things,  with  which  you  come  into  daily  contact, 
how  can  you  expect  to  comprehend  etei-nal  things .'' 

Jesus  then  resolves  not  to  leave  Nicodemus  without 
another  great  lesson.  Nicodemus  was  evidently  converted ; 
for  it  is  remarkable  enough,  we  find  in  this  very  Gospel 
proofs  that  Nicodemus  had  this  sermon  blessed  to  him,  and 
became  a  true  believer  and  follower  of  the  Lamb.  For  it 
is  said  in  the  seventh  chapter  of  this  Gospel,  that  "  Nicode- 
mus saith  unto  them,  (he  that  came  to  Jesus  by  night,  being 
one  of  them,)  "  —  how  very  remarkable  the  allusion  to  his 
coming  by  night,  —  "  Doth  our  law  judge  any  man,  before  it 


JOHN  III.  37 

hear  liim,  and  know  what  he  doeth  ?  They  answered  and 
said  unto  him,  Art  thou  also  of  Gahlee  ?  Search,  and  look : 
for  out  of  Galilee  ariseth  no  prophet."  It  is  quite  plain 
that  this  sermon  was  blessed  to  him,  and  that  he  became  a 
disciple  from  bein<(  an  inquirer.  Jesus  therefore  not  only 
tells  him  that  a  new  heart  is  necessary,  as  a  prerequisite  to 
heaven ;  but  he  tells  hiin  also  the  grand  process  by  which 
the  new  heart  can  be  had.  It  would  seem  from  this  dis- 
course as  if  Nicodemus  had  probably  added,  "  Blessed  Mas- 
ter, I  see  that  I  must  be  born  again ;  but  oh !  tell  me  how 
I  can  get  this !  "  The  answer  is  that  beautiful  one,  "  As 
Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so  must 
the  Son  of  Man  be  lifted  up :  that  whosoever  believeth  in 
him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  "What 
good  news  is  here  !  If  we  never  heard  another  text  to  the 
end  of  our  lives,  this  is  enough  to  tell  us  the  way  to  heav- 
en ;  and  if  you  never  forget  that  text,  you  will  recollect 
what  will  be  the  most  precious  record  in  your  memory. 
And  how  does  it  teach  us  ?  Just  think  of  the  incident :  the 
Israelites  were  dying  in  the  desert  by  a  plague  of  serpents, 
inflicted  on  them  for  their  sins;  Moses,  by  God's  command, 
put  up  a  likeness  of  the  living  creature  that  stung  them 
upon  a  pole,  as  that  to  which  they  were  to  look  and  get 
health.  Jesus  was  made  in  the  likeness,  not  in  the  guilt,  of 
sinful  flesh  —  was  lifted  on  the  cross,  is  now  lifted  on  his 
throne,  is  now  lifted  in  the  preaching  of  the  gospel.  Who- 
ever believes  on  Jesus  has  eternal  life. 

Now  mack  what  the  Israelite  did.  He  was  dying ;  Moses 
said  to  every  dying  Israelite,  "  Look  up  to  that  brass  ser- 
pent, and  you  will  instantly  get  health.  I  have  no  doubt 
there  were  metaphysical,  quibbling,  and  factious  Israelites 
in  the  desert,  just  as  there  are  metaphysical,  quibbling,  and 
factious  Englishmen  and  Scotchmen  in  the  ninteenth  cen- 
tury ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  some  of  them  said,  "  Mon- 
strous !  look  at  a  piece  of  brass,  and  be  healed !  Give  us  a 
•     4 


38  SCRIPTURE     RKADIXGS. 

physician's  prescription  ;  give  us  some  grant!  antidote,  some 
good  medicine,  —  something  that  we  can  understand;  but 
the  idea  of  looking  at  a  piece  of  brass  hoisted  on  a  pole  !  — 
the  thing  is  absurd  ;  we  will  not  do  it."  And  they  did  not 
do  it ;  and  they  died.  But  I  have  no  doubt  that  Moses  said 
to  others,  "  Well,  I  will  not  enter  into  a  discussion  about  the 
merits  of  brass,  or  about  the  beauty  of  the  pole,  or  about  the 
excellence  of  the  thing  at  all :  but  let  me  ask  you  to  try  it 
—  make  the  experiment."  And  it  came  to  pass,  that  who- 
ever looked,  instantly  had  bodily  health.  Well,  so  it  is  with 
Jesus.  You  say,  How  can  Jesus  be  God  ?  how  can  his 
sacrifice  be  atoning  ?  how  can  our  looking  to  him  be  eternal 
life?  My  answer  is.  Just  try  it:  lay  the  stress  and  trust  of 
your  hearts  for  the  forgiveness  of  your  sins,  for  a  right  to 
heaven,  upon  Jesus  as  your  righteousness  and  your  sacri- 
fice ;  and,  justified  by  faith,  you  will  have  what  is  the  evi- 
dence of  healing,  —  peace  with  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  Now  the  similitude  is  not  mine ;  it  is  a  divine  one; 
Jesus  himself  has  sketched  the  similitude.  And  you  can 
easily  conceive  in  the  case  of  the  Israelites  that  looked  — 
some,  I  have  no  doubt,  in  the  agony  of  death,  so  that  they 
could  scarcely  look  ;  yet  if  one  ray  of  light  shot  from  that 
brass  serpent  into  the  blindest  and  the  darkest  eye,  it  was 
instant  cure  ;  —  so  in  the  gospel  strong  faith  has  strong  com- 
fort, weak  faith  has  little  comfort ;  but  little  faith  has  the 
same  salvation  that  strong  faith  has ;  for  -Jesus  is  not  a 
greater  Saviour  to  greater  faith,  but  he  is  the  same  salva- 
tion to  all  that  believe,  whether  weakly  or  strongly,  whether 
with  little  faith,  or  with  the  faith  that  can  remove  mountains. 
Then  Nicodemus,  I  have  no  doubt,  when  he  heard  this 
wonderful  truth,  —  an  appeal  to  a  fact  in  his  own  history,  — 
said,  "  How  wonderful  is  this  ?  How  do  you  explain  it  ?  " 
Jesus  said,  The  only  explanation  of  it  is  this :  "  God  so 
loved" — what  intensity  of  love  is  in  that  monosyllable  love! 
—  "  so  loved  the  Avorld,  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son." 


JOHN  III.  39 

In  other  words,  God  does  not  love  us  because  Christ  died 
for  us ;  but  Christ  died  for  us  because  God  loved  us.  How 
beautiful  is  this  !  —  to  think  that  the  gospel  is  a  provision 
of  the  Father's  love  for  its  reaching  sinners.  Who  can  fail 
to  see  in"this  text  an  emphatic  Abrahamic  allusion  ?  "  Take 
now  thy  son,  thine  only  son  Isaac,  whom  thou  lovest,  and 
get  thee  into  the  land  of  Moriah  ;  and  olfer  him  there  for 
a  burnt-offering  upon  one  of  the  mountains  which  I  will 
tell  thee  of"  "  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his 
only  Son  —  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth 
in  him  should  not  perish."  And  therefore,  it  teaches  the 
idea  of  atonement  —  that  God  gave  Christ  not  as  an  ex- 
ample, but  gave  him  as  an  atonement  and  sacrifice  for  the 
sins  of  all  that  believe. 


CHAPTER  HI.   36. 

SCMMARY     OF     TRUTHS.  —  BAPTISM     AND     IMMERSION.  DISPUTES. 

HUMILITY     OF     JOHN.  —  SEAL. EVERLASTING     LIFE. LIFE 

THROUGH     FAITH     AND     FROM     CHRIST.  —  THE     FUTURE     NOT     IN 
EITHER   DIVISION.  —  INSENSIBILITY. ONLY    TWO    CLASSES. 

The  result  of  all  the  teaching  in  this  chapter  is  ex- 
pressed in  the  closing  words.  Jesus  says,  in  solemn  yet 
blessed  accents,  "  Pie  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  ever- 
lasting life  :  and  he  that  believeth  not  the  Son  shall  not  see 
life ;  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him."  John  iii.  36. 
He  tells  us  that  "  this  is  the  condemnation,  that  light  is 
come  into  the  world"  —  the  gift  of  God  in  his  distinguish- 
ing mercy, —  "but  that  men  loved  darkness  rather  than 
light,"  for  the  obvious  reason  that  their  deeds  could  not 
bear  the  brightness  of  the  light,  for  dark  deeds  must  have 
a  dark  element  in  which  to  live.  He  then  states,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  "  he  that  doeth  truth  cometh  to  the  light, 
that  his  deeds  may  be  made  manifest,  that  they  are  wrought 
in  God ; "  and  thus  God  have  the  glory  of  the  deeds  which 
the  believer  brings  up  to  the  light ;  that  believer's  light  so 
shining  about  him,  that  others  seeing  his  good  works  may 
glorify  his  Father  who  is  in  heaven. 

It  appears  that  after  Jesus  had  concluded  the  discourse 
of  which  these  are  the  last  words,  "  John  was  baptizing  in 
-I'Enon  near  to  Salim,  because  there  was  much  water  there : 
and  they  came,  and  were  baptized."  In  chap.  iv.  it  is  said, 
"  Jesus  baptized  ; "  and  it  is  added,  "  though  Jesus  baptized 

(40) 


joiix  III.  41 

not,  but  his  disciples."  We  have  in  this  an  evidence  of  a 
common  occurrence  in  the  Scripture,  where  God  is  said  to 
do  things  directly  that  he  does  only  instrumentally.  For  in- 
stance, it  is  said  that  God  hardened  Pharaoh's  heart.  He 
did  not  do  so  by  the  direct  power  of  his  omnipotence,  but 
by  means  of  the  things  that  he  did  before  him,  which,  fail- 
ing to  soften,  necessarily  resulted  in  the  reactionary  influ- 
ence of  hardening  a  heart  that  they  could  not  soften.  So 
Jesus  is  said  to  have  baptized ;  but  Avhen  we  turn  to  the 
next  chapter,  at  the  beginning,  we  read,  "  When  therefore 
the  Lord  knew  how  the  Pharisees  had  heard  that  Jesus 
made  and  baptized  more  disciples  than  John  (though  Jesus 
baptized  not,  but  his  disciples)."  He  did  by  them  what  he 
is  said  in  this  verse  to  have  done  directly  himself.  I  did 
not  explain  in  the  previous  expository  remarks  on  the  chap- 
ter that  the  expression,  "  there  was  much  water  there,"  in 
verse  23,  is  not  the  literal  rendering  of  the  words.  Our 
Baptist  brethren  allege  that  this  is  clearly  proof  that  im- 
mersion was  the  exclusive  practice  of  primitive  baptism,  for 
that  John  was  baptizing  because  there  was  much  water. 
But,  in  truth,  it  would  seem  to  indicate  the  very  reverse. 
The  words  in  the  original  are  iroklii  vdara,  which  means  lit- 
erally, "  many  waters ; "  or  it  might  be  rendered  "  many 
pools  ;  "  not  pools  so  deep  that  a  person  could  be  immersed 
in  them,  but  pools  of  water,  and  otherwise  so  abundant  that 
John  could  easily  have  access  to  them,  and  the  people  be 
baptized. 

We  then  read  that,  in  the  midst  of  all  this,  "  there  arose 
a  question  between  some  of  John's  disciples  and  the  Jews 
about  purifying."  Whenever  men  begin  to  feel  the  truth 
coming  home  to  their  consciences,  they  will  try  to  make  it 
leap  off  at  a.  tangent,  by  starting  some  intricate  metaphysi- 
cal side  dispute.  Those  solemn  and  instructive  truths  that 
were  taught  in  this  beautiful  discourse,  bad  evidently  been 
productive  of  impression ;  the  Jews,  to  stave  off  what  might 
4* 


42  SCUIPTUUE    READINGS. 

disturb  the  conscience,  and  trouble  it  till  it  got  possession  of 
the  true  peace,  originated  a  question  or  a  controversy  about 
purifying.  Now,  that  explains  many  a  controversy  in  the 
church.  Whenever  the  Spirit  of  God  is  awakening  any 
portion  of  the  church  into  real  life,  Satan  will  get  up  a  gal- 
vanic life,  an  apparent  life,  or  an  excitement  about  churcli 
government,  or  cliurch  formularies,  or  church  ceremonials, 
or  some  other  extrinsic  and  superficial  subjects.  The  evi- 
dence of  great  disputes  in  a  church  about  trifles,  is  evidence 
of  deep  impressions  somewhere  in  the  church  of  living  re- 
alities. Men  never  begin  to  dispute  about  little  things  ex- 
cept there  be  some  great  movement  that  Satan  tempts  them 
thus  to  try  to  divert  into  another  and  an  uttei'ly  profitless 
channel.  They  came  to  John,  and  tried  to  excite  rivalry  be- 
tween him  and  Jesus  ;  but  John,  like  a  true  minister  of  the 
gospel,  would  not  allow  his  shadow  in  the  least  degree  to 
darken  the  glory  of  his  blessed  Master.  And  therefore 
John,  with  all  humility,  and  with  all  the  faithfulness  of  a 
true  minister,  says,  "  A  man  can  receive  nothing,  except  it 
be  given  him  from  heaven.  Ye  yourselves  bear  me  wit- 
ness, that  I  said,  I  am  not  the  Christ."  I  never  pretended 
to  be  able  to  regenerate  ;  I  only  baptize  with  water,  he  bap- 
tizeth  with  the  Holy  Ghost.  I  never  assumed  to  be  he  ;  I 
never  pretended  to  step  into  his  shoes ;  the  distance  be- 
tween him,  the  Divine  Master,  and  me,  the  humble  herald, 
is  impassable,  it  is  infinite.  "  He  that  hath  the  bride  is  the 
bridegroom ; "  the  true  Church  is  the  bride,  Christ  the 
Bridegroom  ;  "  I  am  but  the  friend  of  the  bridegroom,"  con- 
gratulating him  on  his  success,  and  rejoicing.  And  the  joy 
that  I  feel  now  is  the  joy  that  results  from  this :  —  that 
Christ  is  gathering  from  the  midst  of  the  world  a  company 
to  himself,  to  present  to  himself  a  glorious  Church,  without 
spot,  or  wrinkle,  or  blemish,  or  any  such  thing.  Hence,  the 
result  is,  "  He  must  increase,"  —  increase  in  reign,  increase 
in  glory,  increase  in  his  heritage  till  all  the  earth  is  his,  — 


JOHN  III.  43 

"  but  I  must  decrease."  The  morning  star  retreats  as  the 
sun  climbs  to  his  meridian ;  the  spring  gives  way  as  the 
summer  treads  upon  its  skirts ;  the  seryant  must  give  way 
when  the  master  comes  to  take  the  place  that  is  due  to  him 
alone."  "  He  that  cometh  from  above  is,"  therefore,  "  above 
all,"  —  so  is  Christ, —  "he  that  is  of  the  earth  is  earthly, 
and  speaketh  of  the  earth :  he  that  cometh  from  heaven  is 
above  all."  And  then  he  says,  now  describing  the  true  be- 
liever, "  He  that  hath  received  his  testimony  hath  set  to  his 
seal  that  God  is  true."  You  will  observe  how  John,  with 
consummate  wisdom  and  Christian  prudence,  puts  aside  the 
dispute  that  they  tried  to  originate,  shuts  bis  eyes  to  what 
they  intended  to  make  it,  —  a  rivalry  between  him  and 
Christ,  and  turns  their  thoughts  instantly  to  what  are  the 
marks  and  characteristics  of  a  true  believer,  and  how  and 
by  what  evidences  that  believer  may  be  known.  Now,  the 
very'first  that  he  states  is,  "  He  that  hath  received  his  testi- 
mony "  —  that  is,  Christ's  testimony  —  "  hath  set  to  his  seal 
that  God  is  true."  Receiving  Christ's  testimony,  then,  is 
the  mark  of  a  believer ;  not  adding  to  it,  not  detracting 
from  it,  not  receiving  in  its  stead  tradition,  but  Christ's  tes- 
timony ;  he  hath  set  to  his  seal  that  God  is  true.  And  then 
he  adds,  "  For  he  whom  God  hath  sent  speaketh  the  words  of 
God :  for  God  giveth  not  the  Spirit  by  measure  unto  him." 
John  says,  Christ  speaks  the  very  words  of  God.  He  is 
the  Word  of  God  —  the  Word  made  flesh,  the  vehicle  of 
God's  mind ;  so  that  he  that  hath  seen  him  hath  seen  the 
Father.  And  then  he  concludes  the  chapter  with  the  sum- 
mary of  all  that  distinguishes  the  church  from  the  world, 
the  "believer  from  the  unbeliever,  the  saint  from  the  uncon- 
verted sinner :  —  "  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  ever- 
lasting life :  and  he  that  believeth  not  the  Son  shall  not  see 
life."  Now,  these  words  constitute  a  proclamation  of  in- 
finite and  inexhaustible  value.  It  is  one  of  those  great 
truths  that  we  should  suppose  men  would  hear  like  the 


44  Hcnii-riAii:  kkadinob. 

kouihI  of  a  (iinrif(f;f,  iiwakonirig  every  tliouglit,  and  liopc, 
and  anxioty  wiLliiii.  Wlmf,  a  j)ropo.sit.ion  !  what  grandeur 
iH  in  it,  what,  Hiihiiniity !  what,  intensity  of  intereHt  in  corn- 
preHH(!d  into  that  ain'^Ui  elauHe,  "  lie  that  helieveth  on  tliy 
Son  of  God  hath  everhisting  life."  AH  that  is  transient, 
teni|ioiary,  national,  loeal,  peenliar,  is  merged  in  the  great 
proposition,  "lie"  —  whatever  be,  ]m  age,  lii»  clime,  his 
country;  .lew  or  Cientile,  (ireek  or  Ijarhariari,  bond  or  free 
—  "he  that  believetli  on  tlie  Son  hath  everlasting  hfe." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

A  SEnMON. — NO  ACCIDENTS.  —  AVOMAN  OP  SAMARIA. — A  I'AGE  IN 
HER  HISTORY. HER  DESIRE  TO  KEEP  IT  SECRET. HER  REC- 
OGNITION   OF    JESUS. — UER   MISSIONARY    CONDUCT. — SICK    SON. 

DISEASE     NOT     PECULIAR    TO      POVERTY. THE      CURE. THE 

PROOF. 

This  chapter  contains  one  of  tlie  most  remarkable  and, 
perhaps,  impressive  incident.s  recorded  in  the  Gospels.  It 
is  the  record  or  report  of  a  sermon ;  Christ  himself  the 
preacher;  and  a  lonely  woman  who  had  come  to  Jacob's 
well  to  draw  water,  the  whole  of  his  congregation.  By  this 
incident  we  are  taught  a  very  useful  lesson  even  at  the  out- 
set. It  is  not  the  multitude  that  hear  that  lends  interest, 
and  grandeur,  and  importance  to  the  circumstances  in  which 
we  are  met.  One  soul  thirsting  for  living  water  is  a  suffi- 
cient reason  why  the  best,  and  ablest,  and  most  gifted  of 
preachers  .should  proclaim  to  that  soul  the  unsearchable 
riches  of  Christ.  Nothing  can  be  more  puerile  than  the 
remark,  "  I  have  few  to  preach  to,  therefore  I  cannot  preach 
fervently."  If  we  are  filled  by  the  grandeur  of  the  theme, 
by  the  solemnity  of  the  circumstance,  by  the  issues  that  are 
involved  in  it,  what  will  be  inspired  into  our  thoughts  before 
will  be  communicated  to  our  words,  and  we  shall  preach  to 
one  just  as  if  we  preached  to  one  thousand ;  knowing  that 
no  arithmetic  of  ours  can  calculate  the  value  of  one  immor- 
tal soul. 

It  appears  on  this  occasion  that  "Jesus  must  needs  go 

(45) 


46  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

through  Samaria ; "  tliis  was  no  accident,  for  by  doing  so  he 
came  to  a  city  of  Samaria,  called  Sychar,  "  near  to  the  par- 
cel of  ground  that  Jacob  gave  to  his  son  Joseph.  Now  Ja- 
cob's well  was  thei'e."  "Wearied  with  his  journey,  and  hun- 
gry and  thirsty,  he  sat  down  by  the  well  side :  it  was  a  deep 
spring,  a  wall  was  built  round  it,  probably  of  some  two  or 
three  feet  in  height,  and  upon  this  stone  wall  Jesus  sat 
down,  exhausted  and  tired,  —  the  Man'  of  Sorrows,  —  and 
here,  as  everywhere,  acquainted  with  grief.  A  woman 
came  to  di-aw  water,  and  that  woman  was  a  Samaritan. 
The  Samai'itans  held  only  the  Pentateuch,  or  the  Five 
Books  of  Moses,  as  inspired  Scripture ;  they  did  not  accept 
the  Prophets :  they  believed  that  on  Mount  Gerizim  was 
the  proper  place  for  the  temple,  and  not  upon  Mount  Zion, 
as  the  Jews  constitutionally  and  scripturally  held  it.  This 
woman  came  to  the  well  to  draw  water ;  and  seeing  Jesus, 
and  knowing  by  his  accent  that  he  was  Jewish,  —  or  by  his 
dress,  which  was  probably  no  less  so,  —  when  he  asked  her 
for  a  draught  of  water,  the  thing  seemed  so  unusual  that 
she  said,  "  How  is  it  that  thou,  being  a  Jew,  askest  drink  of 
me,  which  am  a  woman  of  Samaria  ?  We  have  no  dealings 
together;  you  know  we  Samaritans  are  Dissenters,  you 
Jews  are  Churchmen ;  you  have  excommunicated  us,  and 
we  have  retaliated  and  repaid  you  in  your  own  coin,  by  ex- 
communicating you;  and  all  intercourse  between  us  has 
long  ago  ceased.  And  she  said,  partly  in  banter,  partly  in 
merriment,  "  How  is  it  that  you,  a  Jew,  have  so  completely 
overstepped  the  barriers  that  separate  us,  that  you  inquire, 
contrary  to  all  ecclesiastical  etiquette,  that  you  descend  from 
the  dignity  of  a  high  Churchman  to  ask  a  glass  of  water  of 
me,  w'ho  am  a  lowly  and  despised  Dissenter  ?  "  The  an- 
swer that  Jesus  gave  was  a  truly  beautiful  one:  "  Had  you 
only  known  the  intrinsic,  and  the  eternal,  and  had  your 
mind  been  less  filled  with  the  circumstantial  and  the  tran- 
sient, you  Avould  never  have  started  a  quarrel  or  recalled 


jOHx  IV.  47 

such  paltry  and  contemptible  disputes  as  these  ;  —  if  thou 
knewest  the  gift  of  God  you  would  have  asked  of  me,  and 
you  would  have  got  something  far  better  than  Jewish  pride 
or  Samaritan  hate,  than  Zion  or  Gerizim,  than  Church  or 
Dissent  —  even  living  water."  Immediately  she  turned 
round  to  him,  and  showed  that  she  had  notions  as  high  in 
her  own  way  as  the  Jews  had  in  theirs.  "  Art  thou  greater 
than  our  father  Jacob  ?  "  This  is  what  is  called  apostolical 
succession :  a  Churchman  traces  his  ecclesiastical  pedigree 
back  to  the  Fathers  ;  the  Dissenter  will  trace  his  to  John 
Howe,  or  to  Baxter,  or  to  some  other  great  worthy ;  and  it 
is  quite  possible  to  make  as  much  of  Baxter  or  of  Howe 
in  Nonconformity,  of  Knox  or  of  Melville  in  the  Scotch 
Church,  as  it  is  for  the  English  ultra-Churchman  to  make 
of  the  Fathers  and  the  writers  of  the  first  three  centuries  of 
the  Christian  era.  The  fact  is,  we  are  all  prone  to  consti- 
tute somebody  master,  and  to  look  up  to  some  great  spirit 
as  the  standard  and  test  of  all  excellence.  "Art  thou 
greater  than  our  father  Jacob,  which  gave  us  this  well,  and 
drank  thereof  himself,"  —  and  consecrated  it  by  doing  so,  — 
and  not  only  he,  "  but  his  children  and  his  cattle  also  ?  " 

We  are  in  possession  of  the  very  well  that  Jacob  dug,  the 
original  well  that  he  consecrated.  There  is  no  such  well  in 
the  world  as  our  well,  or  such  water  as  ours,  or  such  place 
as  our  country.  Art  thou  greater  than  he  ?  —  whom  makest 
thou  thyself  ?  "  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  her,"  with  his 
wonted  mildness,  "  Whosoever  drinketh  even  of  Jacob's 
well  shall  thirst  again ;  but  whosoever  drinketh  of  the  wa- 
ter that  I  shall  give  him  shall  never  thirst."  And  then  the 
woman  said,  probably  in  banter,  for  she  was  evidently  very 
witty,  "  Sir,  give  me  this  water,  and  then  I  shall  not  have 
the  trouble  of  coming  day  by  day  to  fill  this  heavy  pitcher 
with  water  to  satisfy  my  thirst.  "Jesus  saith  unto  her"  — 
seeing  that  she  was  trying  to  make  merry  with  what  he  had 
said,  and  seeing  in  her  mind  a  great  deal  that  was  rather 


43  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

•without  religion  than  contrary  to  reh'gion,  he  resolves  to 
touch  a  chord  that  should  awaken  conscience  to  its  depths, 
and  make  her  feel  that  there  was  something  more  than  ec- 
clesiastical etiquette  that  man's  soul  ought  to  think  about; 
with  that  discernment  of  'the  human  mind,  with  that  ac- 
quaintance with  human  history,  which  none  but  the  Son  of 
God  had,  he  says  to  her,  breaking  the  thread  of  the  dis- 
course, and  casting  a  live  spark  into  her  ignitible  conscience, 
"  Go,  call  thy  husband,  and  come  hither.  The  woman  an- 
swered and  said"  —  what  was  perfectly  true  —  "I  have  no 
husband  ;  "  although  it  often  happens  that  half  a  truth  is  a 
whole  lie.  It  was  quite  true  that  she  had  no  husband,  but 
that  was  not  a  true,  because  not  a  complete  statement  of  her 
circumstances.  Then  she  thought  she  had  finished  all  the 
objections ;  but  what  was  to  her  the  unexpected  result  ? 
"  Jesus  said  unto  her.  Thou  hast  well  said,  I  have  no  hus- 
band " —  that  is  quite  true;  and  then  he  explains  to  her  a 
chapter  in  her  biography  which  she  thought  was  buried  in 
oblivion,  and  was  known  only  to  herself.  "  Thou  hast  had 
five  husbands  in  succession  ;  and  he  whom  thou  now  hast  is 
not  thy  husband"  —  thou  art  not  married  to  him  —  "  in  that 
saidst  thou  truly ;  "  but  that  expression  had  underlying  it  al- 
so the  serious  charge  that  she  had  concealed  what  she  knew, . 
and  had  not  disclosed  all  the  circumstances  of  her  case. 
Then  the  woman,  evidently  startled,  as  she  felt  a  strange 
and  mysterious  hand  turning  over  the  leaves  of  her  memo- 
ry, and  casting  pure  light  full  upon  every  page,  as  he  turned 
it  over,  touching  the  most  sensitive  part  of  her  conscience, 
and  awakening  in  her  mind  forebodings  of  death,  of  judg- 
ment, and  eternity,  instantly  exclaimed,  "Sir,  I  perceive 
that  thou  art  a  prophet."  She  denies  nothing.  She  says,  I 
see  you  know  me  as  well  as  I  know  myself  Well,  now, 
mark  what  she  then  says;  —  one  would  have  thought  she 
would  have  added  instantly,  "  O  tell  me  how  this  great  sin  • 
can  be  forgiven,  where  this  past  of  my  life  can  be  blotted 


joiix  IV.  49 

out.  Show  me  thnt  mysterious  power  that  will  cancel  those 
dark  pages  which  thou  hast  revealed  in  the  light  of  truth  ;  " 
—  one  would  have  thought  she  would  have  said  so.  But 
human  nature  will  shrink  from  the  hand  that  meddles  with 
.  its  conscience ;  and  therefore  she  tried  to  divert  his  atten- 
tion, and  to  vary  the  subject,  and  to  turn  into  an  ecclesiasti- 
cal controversy  about  forms  outside  what  was  in  dispute,  as 
long  as  she  could  keep  the  dispute  at  a  distance  from  her 
conscience.  Therefore  she  says,  "  Our  fathers  Avorshipped 
in  this  mountain ;  and  ye  say,  that  in  Jerusalem  is  the  place 
where  men  ought  to  worship  ; "  as  much  as  to  say,  "  Now,  I 
do  not  want  to  hear  more  about  that  personal  subject ;  that 
does  not  suit  me,  it  is  unpleasant.  I  want  to  know  more 
about  consecrated  places,  about  ecclesiastical  forms,  —  any 
thing  you  like ;  but  do  not  touch  my  conscience,  or  remind 
me  of  my  sins  any  more."  Jesus,  knowing  that  the  time 
would  come  when  this  suffering  of  the  conscience  should 
end  in  conversion  of  the  soul,  answers  her ;  as  much  as  to 
say,  "  I  will  take  you  as  I  find  you  ;  I  will  answer  you  ;  " 
but  still  he  lifts  her  heart  above  form  and  ceremony  — 
"Woman,  believe  me,  the  hour  cometh,  when  ye  shall 
neither  in  this  mountain,  nor  yet  at  Jerusalem,  worship  the 
Father.  Ye  worship  ye  know  not  what :  we  know  what  we 
worship  :  for  salvation  is  of  the  Jews.  But  the  hour  cometh, 
and  now  is,  when  the  true  worshippers  shall  worship  the 
Father  in  spirit  and  in  truth :  for  the  Father  seeketh  such 
to  worship  him.  God  is  a  Spirit :  and  they  that  worship 
him  must  worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth."  Ransack  all 
heathendom ;  read  the  beautiful  Dialogues  of  Plato  ;  read 
the  noblest  monuments  of  Greek  or  Roman  learning ;  and 
in  the  highest  elevation  that  their  philosophers  reached,  you 
will  find  no  sentiment  approaching  within  a  thousand  miles 
of  the  magnificent  announcement  —  "  God  is  a  Spirit :  and 
they  that  worship  him  must  worship  him  in  si)irit  and  in 
truth."     As  much  as  to  say,  "It  is  not  the  form  in  which, 

5 


50  SCRIPTUKE    HEADINGS. 

or  the  place  where,  you  worship,  but  the  spirit  that  is  in  it." 
You  may  worship  without  a  form  and  yet  worship  most 
spiritually,  or  you  may  worship  with  a  form  and  yet  wor- 
ship spirituall}^  The  true  Avorship  is  not  a  thing  of  liturgy 
or  extemporaneous  prayer,  but  far  deeper,  —  it  is  a  thing 
of  the  innermost  soul.  If  there  be  the  worship  of  the  soul, 
God  forgives  or  overlooks  the  imperfections  of  the  form. 
"  God  is  a  Spirit :  and  they  that  worship  him  must  worship 
him  in  spirit  and  in  truth." 

The  woman  then  made  another  remark,  thinking  she  had 
got  him  off  the  ground  she  did  not  wish  him  to  tread,  —  "I 
know  that  Messias  cometh,  which  is  called  Christ  ;  when  he 
is  come,  he  will  tell  us  all  things."  Then  Jesus  at  once  said 
to  her,  "  I  that  speak  unto  thee  am  he."  We  discover  from 
the  rest  of  this  chapter  the  woman  never  forgot  the  search- 
ing inquisition  that  he  instituted  in  her  conscience.  It  made 
an  indelible  impression.  She  then  left  her  waterpot  —  that 
is,  the  pitcher  Avitli  which  she  came  to  draw  water  —  and 
she  went  her  way  into  the  city,  and  did  Avhat  few  females 
of  modern  times  would  have  the  courage  to  do,  but  a  cour- 
age that  in  her  case  became  her,  and  was  her  credit  and  her 
glory,  —  "she  saith  unto  the  men,  Come,  see  a  man"  — 
now,  mai'k  how  his  examination  of  her  conscience  had  left 
its  impression  upon  it  —  "  Come,  see  a  man  which  told  me 
all  things  that  ever  I  did  :  is  not  this  the  Christ  ?  "  He  has 
shown  omniscience,  acquaintance  with  my  innermost  soul, 
intimacy  with  the  deepest  secrets  of  my  biography  —  is 
not  this  the  Messiah  promised  to  the  fathers  ?  "  Then  they 
went  out  of  the  city,  and  came  unto  him." 

In  the  mean  w'hile,  now,  an  incident  took  place  parenthet- 
ically introduced.  His  disciples  came  to  him,  and  said, 
"  Master,  eat.  But  he  saith  unto  them,  I  have  meat  to  eat 
that  ye  know  not  of.  Therefore  said  the  disciples  one  to 
another,  Hath  any  man  brought  him  aught  to  eat  ?  Jesug 
saith  unto  them,  My  meat  is  to  do  the  will  of  him  that  sent 


JOHN    IV.  51 

me,  and  to  finish  his  work."  The  disciples  attached  to  it  a 
carnal  meaning ;  just  as  the  Jews  in  the  sixth  chapter  at- 
tached to  the  words,  "  Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of 
man  and  drink  his  blood,  je  have  no  life  in  you  ; "  and  as 
the  Roman  Catholics  attach  to  these  Ayords  a  carnal  mean- 
ing, and  construct  the  monstrous  dogma  of  transubstantiation 
from  them,  the  disciples  here  attached  to  the  words  a  carnal 
and  material  sense.  The  constant  course  of  Christ  the 
Teacher,  in  the  New  Testament,  is  to  raise  men  from  the 
material  to  the  moral,  the  spiritual,  the  heavenly  :  the  con- 
stant tendency  of  man,  the  pu-pil,  is  to  drag  down  the  moral, 
the  spiritual  and  the  heavenly  within  the  limits  of  the  car- 
nal, the  material  and  the  earthly.  He  then  tells  them  the 
harvest  of  the  world  is  ready,  souls  need  to  be  gathered, 
and  that  now  it  became  him  to  seize  the  opportunities  as 
they  evolved,  and  to  lead  men  to  the  knowledge  of  the  way 
of  heaven,  of  happiness,  and  of  glory.  The  harvest  is  ready, 
the  laborers  are  few. 

After  this  parenthetical  incident,  many  of  the  Samaritans, 
that  is,  the  countrymen  of  the  woman  of  Samaria,  and  to 
whom  she  had  acted  as  a  faithful  missionary,  came  to  him 
and  believed  on  him  for  the  saying  of  the  woman.  "  So 
when  they  were  come  unto  him,  they  besought  him  that  he 
would  tarry  with  them :  and  he  abode  there  two  days. 
And  many  more  believed  because  of  his  own  word."  And 
then  is  stated,  what  is  so  true,  "  They  said  unto  the  woman, 
Now  we  believe,  not  because  of  thy  saying :  for  we  have 
heard  him  ourselves,  and  know  that  this  is  indeed  the  Christ, 
the  Saviour  of  the  world."  You  see,  therefore,  how  useful 
a  missionary  a  woman  may  be.  She  may  not  go  and  preach 
the  Gospel,  —  she  may  not  stand  upon  the  streets  and  pro- 
claim it ;  but  she  may  by  a  thousand  channels,  —  and  hav- 
ing access  where  man  cannot,  she  may  drop  a  hint  in  con- 
versation, she  may  give  an  advice  to  an  acquaintance,  she 
may  say  a  word  to  a  stranger,  not  that  will  explain  to  them 


52  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

the  Gospel,  but  that  will  bring  them  to  heai-  some  faithful 
preacher  of  everlasting  truth  ;  and  hearing  that  })reacher, 
they  will  thank  the  instrument  that  brought  them  within  the 
sound  of  the  truth,  and  may  be  brought  to  believe,  not 
because  of  that  woman's  word,  but  because  they  have 
heard  themselves  the  things  that  belong  to  their  everlast- 
ing peace. 

After  this  we  read  that  "  Jesus  came  again  into  Cana  of 
Galilee,  where  he  made  the  water  wine,"  —  that  mii'acle 
being  again  alluded  to  as  a  very  remarkable  one,  and  also 
his  first ;  "  and  there  was  a  certain  nobleman,  whose  son 
was  sick  at  Capernaum."  Disease  is  not  the  monopoly  of 
the  poor  ;  it  visits  the  halls  of  the  rich  as  well  as  the  hovels 
of  the  humble.  A  nobleman's  son  was  not  exempt  from 
the  common  ills  and  evils  of  humanity ;  he  was  sick.  This 
nobleman,  however,  had  grace  to  come  to  Jesus,  and  beseech 
him  that  he  would  come  down  and  heal  his  son.  "  Then 
said  Jesus  unto  him.  Except  ye  see  signs  and  wonders,  ye 
will  not  believe."  But  the  nobleman's  love  for  his  child 
and  sympathy  with  his  sufferings  was  too  intense  to  be  re- 
pelled by  Avhat  seemed  a  repulse  ;  and  he  therefore  said, 
"  Sir,  come  down  ere  my  child  die.  Jesus  saith  unto  him. 
Go  thy  way,  thy  son  liveth."  You  will  recollect  the  centu- 
rion came  to  Jesus  and  said,  "  Speak  the  word,  and  my  ser- 
vant shall  be  healed."  Jesus  then  went  to  the  centurion's 
home  and  healed  the  sick  person.  In  this  instance  the  no- 
bleman asks  him  not  to  speak  the  word,  but  to  come  down  ; 
and  Jesus  does  not  come  down,  but  speaks  the  word.  Now, 
when  the  centurion  said,  "  Speak  the  word,  and  my  servant 
shall  be  healed,"  he  so  honored  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  he  con- 
descended to  do  more  than  he  asked  —  he  went  down  to  his 
house  and  healed  him.  In  this  instance  the  nobleman  ex- 
pected that  Jesus  would  come  down  to  his  house,  and  go  to 
a  distance,  not  honoring  him  as  the  centurion  had  done,  and 
while  Jesus  did  not  refuse  his  prayer,  he  did  not  answer  it 


JOHN  IV.  53 

with  that  rich  liberality  with  which  he  answered  the  prayer 
of  the  centurion.  The  nobleman,  then,  in  returning  to  liis 
home,  was  met  by  his  servants,  who  told  him,  "  Thy  son 
liveth.  Then  inquired  he  of  them  the  hour  when  he  began 
to  amend.  And  they  said  unto  him,  Yesterday  at  the 
seventh  hour  the  fever  left  him.  So  the  father  knew  that 
it  was  at  the  same  hour,  in  the  which  Jesus  said  unto  him, 
Thy  son  liveth." 

How  beautiful  the  chapter  we  have  read  !  What  an  im- 
pressive lesson  respecting  us  all !  What  a  truthful  view  of 
human  nature  !  How  evident  that  this  is  reality !  How 
plain  that  the  evangelist  did  not  invent  a  tale,  but  sketched 
and  copied  from  a  living  original ! 
5* 


CHAPTER  IV.  13,  14. 

SCEIPTUKE    INCIDENTS. NO    CHANCE.  THE     PREACHER    HEEE. — 

UNEXPECTED    GIFTS. ALL    OF    GOD. EXPULSIVE    POWER    OF   A 

NEW   AFFECTION.  —  LIVING  WATER.  MISTAKES. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  passages  of  Sci-ipture  is  the 
following  :  "  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  her,  Whosoever 
drinketh  of  this  water  shall  thirst  again :  but  whosoever 
drinketh  of  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  never 
thirst  ;  but  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  be  in  him 
a  well  of  water  springing  up  into  everlasting  life."  John 
iv.  13,  14. 

Thus  we  see  how  incidental  things  occurring  in  the  pro- 
vidential history  of  man  are  made  the  texts  and  the  nuclei 
from  which  Christ  originates  most  precious  moral  and  spir- 
itual instruction.  One  could  scarcely  have  believed  that 
the  incidental  circumstance  of  a  woman  coming  to  draw 
water  from  a  well,  on  the  margin  of  which  the  Saviour 
rested,  could  have  led  to  so  instructive  a  lesson  on  the  one 
hand,  or  been  followed,  as  in  the  case  of  her  countrymen  of 
Samaria,  with  so  many  happy  and  so  blessed  results  on  the 
other.  That  woman  went  that  day  to  draw  water  from  Ja- 
cob's well,  carrying  her  pitcher  on  her  head,  as  she  had 
done  many  a  day  before.  Tliat  day  seemed  to  her  just  like 
the  rest ;  yet  if  she  had  omitted  it,  if  any  thing  had  occurred 
to  make  her  go  there  an  hour  later  or  an  hour  earlier,  pro- 
bably, humanly  speaking,  her  whole  destiny  had  been 
changed,  the  current  or  conversion  of  multitudes   in    Sa- 

(54) 


JOHN  IV.  55 

maria  arrested,  and  the  aspect  of  centuries  altered  by  the 
incidental  occurrence.  The  truth  is,  tliere  was  no  accident 
in  her  going  at  that  hour ;  there  Avas  no  accident  in  Jesus 
resting  on  the  well  at  that  hour :  the  accidents  of  men  are 
the  missionaries  of  God,  and  what  man  calls  the  event  of 
chance  is  a  link  in  the  chain  that  lifts  a  world  into  commu- 
nion and  fellowship  with  God.  Accident  is  not  a  Christian 
name.  Chance  occurs  in  the  Bible,  but  not  as  a  God,  nor 
yet  as  an  inspiration  from  him  ;  and  both  words,  in  the  popu- 
lar acceptation  of  them,  should  be  banished  from  a  Chris- 
tian's vocabulary.  Show  me  that  there  is  accident  in  the 
humblest  and  most  apparently  insignificant  fact  that  you  can 
mention,  and  I  will  answer,  and  logically  prove,  that  there 
is  accident  in  a  monarch's  accession,  or  in  a  monarch's  fall ; 
and  if  I  can  prove  these  two,  I  will  make  the  just  and 
equally  logical  deduction,  there  is  no  God  to  govern  the 
world,  but  a  world  left  to  itself,  to  make  the  best  of  its  way 
home,  and  to  miss  its  destiny  or  to  make  its  voyage  as  acci- 
dent and  chance  may  regulate  or  restrain.  The  truth  is,  if 
any  Christian  would  be  at  the  trouble  to  trace  back  his  past 
history,  he  will  find  that  the  whole  complexion,  and  tone, 
and  relationship  of  his  present  position  is  the  result  of  what 
the  world  calls  very  trifling  accidents.  It  was  the  merest 
turning  of  a  coi-ner  that  brought  you  to  that  place  of  wor- 
ship ;  it  was  the  merest  accidental  interview  at  a  party  that 
has  made  you  the  husband  of  that  wife,  the  wife  of  that 
husband ;  it  was  the  merest  circumstance  that  led  you  into 
that  position  where  you  can  now  command,  in  which  once 
you  were  constrained  to  obey.  Review  your  own  biogra- 
phy, and  you  will  not  need  many  arguments  to  convince 
you  that  there  is  a  God.  Read  your  own  history,  and  you 
will  not  long  feel  that  there  are  any  accidents.  If  there  be 
accidents  in  small  things,  there  must  be  chance  in  mighty 
things  ;  for  minute  incidents  are  the  pivots  on  which  refor- 
mations, revolutions,  and  the  whole  condition  and  history  of 


56  SCRIPTUHE    KKADIXGS. 

the  world  constantly  turn.  The  fact  is,  that  if  I  had  the  whole 
of  the  cycle  of  the  last  fifty  years  before  me  before  it  began 
to  run,  and  the  power  of  putting  in  a  pin  at  any  part  of  the 
last  fifty  years,  the  history  of  the  world  would  be  revolution- 
ized ;  so  completely  do  gigantic  issues  depend  and  hang  upon 
minute  and  incidental  facts.  There  is  no  chance  ;  God 
orders,  God  governs  ;  and  it  was  as  fixed  in  tlie  past  ar- 
rangements of  Pleaven  that  that  woman  should  come  to 
Jacob's  well,  as  it  was  fixed  that  the  Messiah  should  be  born, 
that  he  should  be  nailed  to  the  cross,  and  that  thousands 
upon  thousands  should  be  saved  by  his  precious  blood. 
Free  as  man  feels,  responsible  as  he  is,  yet  I  believe  that 
all  in  our  lot  that  is  gone  is  so  fixed  that  it  could  not  be 
otherwise.  I  am  immortal  till  my  work  is  done ;  till  that 
work  assigned  to  me  is  finished  no  spear-point  can  touch 
me,  no  power  can  harm  me ;  I  am  invulnei'able  till  I  finish 
the  mission  that  God  has  intrusted  to  my  care.  And  yet, 
true  as  this  is,  most  true  as  it  is,  it  does  not  prevent  my  act- 
ing from  motives  on  common  sense,  and  after  precedents, 
and  using  vigorously  all  the  means  that  God  has  placed 
in  my  power ;  knowing  that  the  means,  or  the  apparent 
things,  are  mine ;  that  the  decree,  or  the  hidden  thing,  is 
God's. 

Mark  here  the  preacher  of  this  wonderful  sermon,  Jesus, 
the  Son  of  God,  weary,  hungry,  thirsty,  seated  upon  the 
well  of  Samaria.  IIow  clearly  was  Christ  man !  We  can 
go  with  the  Unitarian  here  in  every  thing,  and  say  that 
Christ  is  man.  We  have  no  doubt  that  he  is  man.  We 
only  object  to  the  Unitarian's  refusing  to  turn  over  the  page 
of  his  Bible,  and  read  upon  the  obverse  side  he  is  also 
God.  All  that  can  be  predicated  of  God  can  be  said  of 
Jesus  ;  all  that  can  be  predicated  of  man  can  also  be  said 
of  him.  Then  here  he  was,  the  Creator  of  heaven  and  of 
earth,  weary,  exhausted,  seeking  rest :  here  he  is,  —  He 
that  opened  all  the  springs  and  channels  of  the  earth,  that 


JOHN  III.  57 

placed  the  ocean  in  his  oozy  bed,  that  controls  the  waves, 
and  sends  his  showers  to  refresh  the  moor,  —  here  he  is, 
seated  by  tlie  side  of  Jacob's  well,  asking  a  stranger  woman 
from  Samaria,  "  Give  me  to  drink  1  "  How  true,  "  though 
rich,  for  our  sakes  he  became  poor,  that  we  through  his 
poverty  might  be  made  rich  !  " 

We  learn  another  lesson.  Persons  often  come  seeking 
an  earthly  object,  and  unexpectedly  they  retire  with  a  heav- 
enly one.  This  woman  came  to  draw  water  from  Jacob's 
well,  and  she  drinks,  ere  she  goes,  from  the  fountain  of 
Jacob's  God.  This  woman  came  seeking  a  supply  for  her 
household  ;  unexpectedly  to  her  she  went  away  with  a  sup- 
ply of  living  water  for  thousands  of  the  men  of  Samaria. 
Some  come  to  church  to  scoff,  and  they  retire  to  pray ; 
some  come  to  hear  a  human  preacher,  and  unexpectedly 
they  hear  the  preacher's  God.  Some  come  seeking  water 
from  the  cisterns  of  time,  and  they  go  away,  unexpectedly 
to  themselves,  —  and  it  will  not  be  the  least  part  of  their 
songs  of  gratitude  throughout  eternity,  —  refreshed  with 
water  from  the  fountain  of  living  waters.  I  have  noticed 
the  carping  words  of  the  woman,  —  "  How  is  it  that  thou, 
being  a  Jew,  askest  drink  of  me,  which  am  a  woman  of 
Samaria  ?  "  I  have  noticed  the  miserable  ecclesiastical  pre- 
judice that  subsisted  in  sects  then,  and,  strange  to  say,  amid 
the  light  of  the  nineteenth  century,  subsists  amidst  the 
Church  still ;  though  one  feels  that,  like  snow  after  a  thaw, 
it  is  only  found  in  patches  here  and  there,  where  the  Sun 
of  Righteousness  has  not  yet  penetrated.  Jesus  instantly 
tells  her,  what  was  far  more  precious  than  the  settlement  of 
an  ecclesiastical  dispute,  "  If  thou  knewest  the  gift  of  God, 
and  who  it  is  that  saith  to  thee.  Give  me  to  drink,  thou 
wouldst  have  asked  of  him,  and  he  would  have  given  thee 
living  Avater."  "  If  thou  knewest  the  gift  of  God."  "Who 
is  that  gift  of  God  ?  All  things  are  gifts  of  God  :  one  is 
the  gift  of  God.     Hence  the  Apostle  Paul  says,  "  Thanks  be 


58  SCKirXURE    HEADINGS. 

to  God  for  his  unspeakable  gift."  There  is  not  a  flower 
that  blooms  in  the  garden,  or  that  wafts  its  sweetness  on  the 
desert  air,  that  his  breath  did  not  give  ft-agrance  to,  and  his 
hand  give  tints  to  ;  there  is  not  a  star  in  the  sky  that  he 
did  not  make  ;  there  is  nothing  so  exquisitely  minute  that 
his  fingers  did  not  form ;  there  is  nothing  so  magnificently 
great  that  his  power  did  not  make  it.  The  fii-st  showers  of 
spring,  the  storms  of  winter,  the  sunshine  of  summer,  are  all 
God's  gifts.  There  is  not  a  crumb  on  our  table  that  is 
not  his  gift :  and  if  you  had  eyes  to  see,  and  knew  his 
gift,  you  would  see  upon  the  bread  that  is  on  your  table 
the  stamp  and  superscription  of  him  that  was  nailed  to  the 
cross  for  us.  But  above  all  earthly,  providential,  and  tem- 
poral gifts,  there  is  one  that  is  the  gift;  and  "  if  thou  knew- 
est  the  gift  of  God,  thou  wouldst  have  asked  of  him."  "  God 
so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  "  —  that  is,  he  made  the 
gift  of —  "  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whoso- 
ever believeth  on  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  eternal 
life."  And  then  he  tells  her,  "If  thou  knewest,  thou 
wouldst  have  asked."  Does  not  that  teach  us  that  prayer 
must  be  preceded  by  knowledge  ?  "  If  thou  knewest  the 
gift,  thourvvouldst  have  asked  of  him."  If  you  knew  what 
you  are,  what  God  has  done  for  you,  your  lips  would 
not  be  dumb,  and  your  hearts  would  not  be  prayerless. 
And  then  he  adds  very  beautifully,  "Thou  wouldst  have 
asked,  and  he  would  have  given  thee,"  —  implying  that  as 
sure  as  the  empty  creature  asks,  so  sure  the  full  God  will 
abundantly  give,  — "  and  he  would  have  given  you  living 
water  to  drink."  He  contrasts  the  water  contained  in  the 
well  of  Jacob  with  that  living  water  that  he  had  to  bestow. 
Now,  how  does  our  Lord  lift  this  woman  above  earthly 
things  ?  He  brings  a  higher  and  a  better  thing  into  juxta- 
position with  the  inferior  thing.  If  you  want  a  person  to 
rise  above  the  love,  the  idolatrous  love,  of  things  that  are 
seen,  you  will  never  lead  him  to  do  so  by  preaching  against 


.Tonx  IV.  59 

those  tilings.  If  you  find  a  man  devoted  to  money,  and  the 
love  of  money,  —  the  most  grovelling  and  contemptible 
passion  upon  earth,  infinitely  worse  than  the  spendthrift's 
or  the  prodigal's,  —  if  you  want  a  man  to  give  up  the 
wretched  feeling  of  the  miser,  you  may  preach  from  morn- 
ing to  night  against  the  love  of  money  —  he  will  not  do  it. 
If  you  say,  why  ?  it  is  his  all,  he  does  not  know  of  any 
thing  better.  No  man  can  live  without  a  God  to  worship ; 
and  a  man  that  knows  not  the  living  God  will  have  an  idol ; 
and  passion,  if  not  a  pure  and  a  lofty  one,  will  be  a  debased 
and  a  grovelling  one.  But  love  and  hate  you  must ;  wor- 
ship and  adore  you  ever  will. 

The  miser,  then,  knows  nothing  else.  And  what  do  you 
do  when  you  bid  him  give  up  the  love  of  money  ?  You 
bid  him  quench  the  only  light  that  burns  in  his  home ;  you 
bid  him  extinguish  the  only  embers  that  are  in  his  grate ; 
you  bid  him  despoil  himself  of  that  which  is  his  only  enjoy- 
ment upon  eai'th.  And  he  will  tell  you,  "  It  cannot  be ;  my 
soul  cannot  be  empty ;  I  must  have  something  to  think 
about,  something  to  love,  something  to  pursue ;  and  if  I 
have  it  not,  self-destruction  will  be  the  inevitable  issue." 
Then  what  are  you  to  do?  Try  to  dislodge  his  love  of 
earthly  objects  by  showing  him  the  virtue,  the  attraction, 
the  glory  of  heavenly  things.  It  is  a  great  law,  that  a 
lesser  light  can  be  quenched  only  in  a  larger  light.  The 
sunshine  will  put  out  the  fire  that  burns  in  your  grate ;  the 
love  of  a  nobler  thing  will  absorb  and  destroy  the  love  of 
an  inferior  thing ;  and,  therefore,  the  only  way  to  make  the 
miser  give  up  the  excessive  love  of  gold,  that  is  his  all,  is 
so  to  unfold  to  him  the  hopes,  the  joys,  the  bleissings,  the 
privileges,  the  worthiness,  the  excellence  of  the  things  that 
relate  to  his  everlasting  peace,  that  he  will  be  so  charmed 
with  the  love  of  the  higher,  that  he  will  instantly  or  ulti- 
mately let  go  his  grasp  of  the  lower  and  the  more  grovel- 
ling.    If  I  met  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  wished  to  show  him 


60  SCRIPTURE    RKADIXGS. 

the  errors  of  his  religion,  I  would  not  first  attack  the  wor- 
ship of  the  Virgin  Mary,  or  the  pope's  infallibility.  He 
would  say,  "  That  is  my  religion  ;  Avhy  should  you  attack 
it?  Why  should  you  deprive  me  of  it?  If  once  I  let  it 
go,  what  have  I  to  fall  back  upon  ? "  And  he  is  quite 
right.  No  man  should  give  up  the  religion  that  he  has, 
unless  he  knows  of  something  brighter  and  better.  Do  not 
quench  the  tiny  glowworm,  unless  you  can  bring  the  big 
bright  sun.  Do  not  take  away  the  consecrated  and  holy 
water,  unless  you  can  bring  the  great  fountain  of  living 
water  to  supply  its  place.  Do  not  disparage  Jacob's  well, 
unless  you  can  bring  her  that  drinks  from  it  to  Jacob's 
God.  And  therefore,  in  dealing  with  the  victim  of  error, 
show  him  the  falsehood  of  the  tenets  that  he  holds;  but,  co-- 
extensive  with  the  exhibition  of  his  error,  show  him  the 
greater  beauty,  attraction,  and  excellence  of  the  truths  that 
he  knows  not.  And,  in  the  same  manner,  if  I  were  to  go 
into  a  company  of  gamblers  at  a  race-course,  and  be  asked 
to  preach  there,  I  should  not  first  of  all  think  of  preaching 
against  horse-racing  ;  I  should  only  bring  scoffers  about  me, 
and  do  no  good.  If  I  were  to  preach  to  the  most  dissi- 
pated, depraved,  and  dissolute  set  of  men  in  England,  I 
should  not  think  at  first  of  preaching  against  their  balls, 
their  drinking,  their  gambling ;  but  I  would  try  to  awaken 
in  the  conscience  thoughts  about  the  future,  thoughts  about 
a  God ;  I  should  tell  them  what  God's  love  is,  what  God's 
law  is,  what  the  Gospel  is ;  and  that  would  enable  me  by 
and  by  to  contrast  that  they  love  with  that  of  which  they 
have  hitherto  been  ignorant. 

The  true  way,  therefore,  to  deal  with  man  is  not  so  much 
to  attack  Jacob's  well,  but  to  try  and  bring  into  comparison 
with  Jacob's  well  the  fountain  of  living  waters  of  Jacob's 
God.  And  therefore  our  blessed  Master,  with  that  infinite 
wisdom  which  he  always  displayed,  said,  "  If  thou  knewest, 
thou  wouldst  have  asked  of  him,  and  he  would  have  given 


JOHN    IV.  61 

thee  living  watci*."  And  then  he  utters  this  magnificent 
maxim,  "  Wliosoever  drinlceth  of  this  water  of  Jacob's  well 
shall  thirst  again."  As  if  he  said,  "  I  do  not  condemn  it  — 
I  do  not  condemn  your  well ;  but  I  tell  you  this,  wiiat  you 
yourself  well  know,  that  you  will  always  thirst  after  drink- 
ing it,  and  have  to  drink  again."  "  But  whosoever  drinketh 
of  the  water"  —  there  is  the  contrast  —  "that  I  shall  give 
him,  shall  never  thirst :  but  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him 
shall  be  in  him  a  well  of  water,  springing  up  into  everlast- 
ing life."  I  need  not  say  that  all  this  is  figurative.  And 
here  you  will  notice  an  instance  of  the  nature  of  our  Lord's 
teaching.  He  speaks  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  this  Gospel, 
which,  if  spared,  we  shall  soon  read,  of  bread ;  and  then  he 
goes  on,  from  the  bread  that  perisheth,  to  speak  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Cross,  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel,  the  meat  of 
everlasting  life.  So  he  speaks  here  to  the  woman,  of  the 
water  in  the  patriarch's  well ;  and  he  passes  on,  by  a  natu- 
ral and  beautiful  transition,  to  speak  of  the  living  water,  or 
the  privileges,  the  blessings,  the  joys,  and  the  hopes  of  the 
Gospel  of  the  kingdom.  He  says,  of  all  the  water  in  all 
the  wells  of  the  world,  "  Whosoever  drinketh  of  tliis  water 
shall  thirst  again."  We  fancy  that  if  we  can  drink  of  that 
well  we  shall  never  thirst;  or,  translated  into  common  lan- 
guage, we  fancy  if  we  had  only  five  hundred  a  year,  how 
happy  we  should  be !  if  we  had  only  a  thousand  a  year,  how 
happy  we  should  be !  And  we  find,  when  God  lias  been 
pleased  to  grant  the  realization  of  such  a  wish,  that  we  still 
thirst  after  we  have  drunk  what  we  so  ardently  desired. 
The  servant  thinks  within  himself, "  If  I  were  only  a  master, 
how  happy  I  should  be  ! "  and  then,  when  he  becomes  a 
master,  he  finds  that  the  thirst  is  not  quenched.  He  then 
begins  to  think,  "  Oh !  if  I  only  had  so  many  hundred  a 
year,  how  happy  I  should  be ! "  He  obtains  the  so  many 
hundred  a  year ;  and  then  he  says,  "  Oh !  if  I  could  only 
get  a  title,  and  be  made  a  baronet  or  a  peei',  how  happy  I 

6 


62  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

should  be  !  "  He  gets  his  title,  but  the  thirst  still  remains. 
He  then  begins  to  think,  "If  I  Avere  only  to  be  made  a 
prince,  how  happy  I  should  be ! "  And  he  is  made  a  prince, 
and  like  a  prince  in  ancient  history,  he  cries  in  agony  from 
a  throne,  "  Oh  that  I  had  wings  like  a  dove,  that  I  might 
flee  away  and  be  at  rest  forever."  So  true  is  it,  "  Whoso- 
ever drinketh  of  this  Avater  shall  thirst  again." 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  true,  equally  and  blessedly 
true  —  "Whosoever  drinketh  of  the  water  that  I  shall  give 
him  shall  never  thirst."  That  is  to  say,  such  is  the  nature 
of  true  religion,  that  you  find  satisfaction  and  want,  like 
sound  and  echo,  like  light  and  shadow,  the  one  instantly 
following  upon  the  other.  There  will  be  wants  in  heaven, 
but  wants  no  sooner  felt  than  met ;  there  will  be  desires  of 
endless  progression  in  the  realms  of  glory,  but  the  very  de- 
siring will  be  joy,  and  the  desire  will  no  sooner  be  felt  than  it 
will  be  removed.  But  this  gi-eat  truth  —  that  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  God,  and  of  everlasting  life  revealed  in  the  Gos- 
pel, alone  there  is  rest  —  is  like  one  of  those  inscriptions 
written  upon  the  stones  in  the  pavement  of  vast  cathedrals, 
over  which  the  feet  of  busy  traffic  continually  go,  and  by 
which  letter  after  letter  is  gradually  erased,  till  the  multi- 
tudes read  it  no  more.  But  it  is  the  preacher's  duty,  like 
him  in  the  ancient  story  —  despised  it  may  be,  and  con- 
demned—  to  take  humbly  and  laboriously  the  chisel, 
and  cut  out  letter  after  letter,  till  at  length  he  that  reads 
may  run  while  he  reads,  "  He  that  drinketh  of  the  water 
that  I  shall  give  him  shall  never  thirst,  but  it  shall  be  in 
him  a  well  of  living  water,  springing  up  into  everlasting 
life."  In  other  words,  translated  into  popular  and  modern 
language :  There  is  no  satisfaction  that  will  meet  the  de- 
mands of  the  soul  in  the  possession  of  wealth,  of  honor,  of 
dignity,  of  rank,  of  learning  ;  there  is  only  repose  for  the 
weary  spirit,  and  satisfaction  for  the  exhausted  heart,  in 
that  trust,  in  those  hopes,  in  the  knowledge,  the  love,  the 


JOHN   IV.  63 

life  of  the  everlasting  Gospel  of  the  Son  of  God.  It  is  the 
evidence  that  man's  soul  is  fallen,  that  it  seeks  satisfaction 
from  Jacob's  well ;  it  is  the  evidence  of  its  aboriginal  mag- 
nificence, that  all  the  Jacob's  wells  in  the  world  cannot 
remove  its  thirst.  Because  man  seeks  satisfaction  upon 
earth,  he  gives  proof  that  he  is  a  fallen  being ;  because  he 
can  never  find  what  will  satisfy  him  upon  earth,  he  gives 
proof  that  he  is  in  his  origin  a  great  and  a  magnificent 
being.  And  that  conviction  is  the  prophecy,  that  in  the 
fulness  of  the  time  that  soul  will  be  satisfied  with  the  rest 
that  remaineth  for  the  people  of  God. 

Notice,  in  the  next  place,  how  our  Lord  sets  forth  the 
Gospel ;  not  as  a  pool  that  evaporates  in  the  sun,  and  dis- 
appears ;  not  as  a  cistern  whose  waters  soon  ooze  out,  and 
leave  but  mud  and  decaying  vegetation  behind ;  not  as  a 
fountain  that  once  gushed  up,  but  has  ceased  to  well  forth 
its  waters ;  but  a  living  spring  that  leaps  from  the  rock, 
and  refreshes  the  weary,  the  thirsty,  and  the  heavy  laden 
in  their  journeys.  A  religion  that  comes  from  God  is  the 
only  religion  that  will  lead  to  God.  Water,  it  is  said,  rises 
to  the  level  from  which  it  originally  came  ;  religion  rises  to 
the  level  from  which  it  came.  A  religion  that  will  lead 
you  to  God,  must  be  a  religion  that  came  from  God.  And 
wherever  there  is  this  real  religion  —  where  there  is  this 
drinking,  not  from  Jacob's  well,  but  from  the  well  of  Jacob's 
God  —  there  will  not  only  be  refreshment  to  your  own  soul, 
but  there  will  be  Avithin  you  a  well  of  living  water,  spring- 
ing up  into  everlasting  life.  Every  Christian  is  likened  to 
a  fountain  ;  and  just  as  the  fountains  of  the  earth  well  up 
their  water  by  the  pressure  of  the  ocean  that  surrounds 
the  globe,  so  every  fountain  of  living  water  will  be  more 
than  refreshed  himself;  he  will  spring  up  and  refresh  others 
that  are  around  him  —  the  Christian  becoming  a  mission- 
ary, and  the  greatest  receiver  becoming  the  greatest  giver. 

Have  you  drunk  of  this  living  water  ?     "•  lio,  every  one 


64  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters;  he  that  hath  no 
money,  come,  buy  wine  and  milk."  "  The  Spirit  and  the 
Bride  say,  Come ;  and  let  him  that  heareth  say,  Come ; 
and  let  him  that  is  athirst  come  ;  and  whosoever  will,  let 
him  take  the  water  of  life  freely."  It  is  the  most  solemn 
responsibility  of  all  that  read  these  words,  that  there  is  all 
heaven  and  everlasting  glory  to  be  had  for  asking ;  and  it 
will  be  the  terrible  condemnation  of  thousands,  that  they 
have  heard  tidings  that  ought  to  electrify  the  dead,  and  yet 
have  neglected  this  great  salvation.  I  ask  all  that  are  rest- 
less and  troubled  in  mind  —  all  that  are  building  castles  in 
the  air,  and  hoping  that  they  will  be  a  shelter  from  the 
storm  —  all  that  are  accumulating  wealth,  and  thinking  that 
will  reflect  upon  them  smiles,  and  satisfaction,  and  joy,  not 
to  build  upon  these  things  ;  but  to  seek  that  knowledge,  that 
truth,  that  new  heart,  that  peace  with  God  through  the 
blood  of  sprinkling,  which  is  the  intensest  happiness  that 
can  be  tasted  upon  earth,  and  the  sure  and  certain  joy  that 
remains  for  the  people  of  God.  I  do  not  ask  you  to  give 
uji  all  that  is  in  the  world.  I  know  many  preachers  err  by 
fulminating  against  ewerj  thing  that  is  in  this  world,  as  if  it 
were  wicked.  It  is  not  wrong  to  love  money ;  it  is  only 
wrong  to  love  it  to  excess.  But  money  itself  is  good  ;  it 
buys  books,  it  buys  learning ;  and  to  love  money  is  to  love 
books  and  learning,  and  many  means  of  usefulness  and 
of  doing  good.  It  is  fanaticism  to  bid  you  not  love  money ; 
it  is  proper  to  love  it ;  but  it  is  sinful  beyond  expression  to 
love  money  equal  to  God,  or  to  make  the  love  of  money 
absorb  the  love  and  the  allegiance  that  you  owe  to  God.  It 
is  quite  right  to  love  literature  ;  it  is  right  to  study  science ; 
it  is  your  duty  to  be  merchants,  to  be  tradesmen,  to  be  sen- 
ators, to  be  physicians,  to  be  lawyers ;  and  if  you  do  not 
give  a  very  large  share  of  your  attention  and  your  thoughts 
to  your  profession,  you  will  soon  be  left  behind  in  the  march 
of  life.     You  must  labor.     "  If  a  man  will  not  work,  neither 


,Tonx  IV.  65 

should  lie  eat."  Monks,  and  nuns,  and  aucliorites,  are  not 
Christians ;  they  go  out  or'  the  world  mechanically,  fancy- 
ing, in  their  folly,  they  go  out  of  it  morally :  whereas  the 
world  is  in  the  heart ;  and  whether  you  ascend  to  the  loftiest 
mountain  crag,  or  descend  to  the  deepest  coal-pit,  the  world 
is  in  you,  and  you  will  he  in  the  world.  What  we  need  is 
not  a  mechanical  change  of  place,  but  a  moral  transforma- 
tion of  the  heart ;  and  by  having  that,  then  we  shall  seek 
first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness ;  and  all 
other  things  we  shall  lay  each  in  its  proper  place,  see  it  in 
its  just  proportions ;  and  set  our  affections  supremely  upon 
things  that  are  heavenly,  and  relatively  and  subordinately 
upon  things  that  are  earthly.  We  shall  love,  chiefest  of  all, 
the  fountain  of  living  waters,  and  in  its  own  place  we  shall 
be  thankful  for,  and  drink  with  gratitude  and  praise  from, 
Jacob's  well. 


Note  —  [5.]  Sychar  is  better  known  by  the  0.  T.  name  of  Sychem 
{I,vxElJ-),  or  Tu  I,iiiifia  (Josephus,  Eiiseb.  etc.),  or  ij  I,iKifj.a  (LXX.,  1 
Kings  xii.  25).  It  was  a  very  old  town  on  the  range  of  Mount 
Ephraim  in  a  narrow  valley  between  Mount  Ebal  and  Mount  Gcri- 
zim  (Judges  ix.  7).  The  name  Sychar  has  been  variously  derived 
from  'Ipld  a  lie,  or  IjlJ  drunken  (Is.  xxviii.  1),  by  some  (Reland, 
Lightfoot),  who  believe  it  to  have  originally  been  an  opprobrious 
name  given  by  the  Jews,  but  by  this  time  to  have  lost  its  signification, 
and  become  the  usual  appellation :  by  others  from  ^vx£/^,  by  mere 
corruption  of  the  terminating  liquid  fi  into  p  (Olsh.).  Very  near  it 
was  afterwards  built  Flavia  Neapolis.  There  is  a  long  and  interesting 
history  of  Sichem  and  the  Samaritan  worship  on  Gerizini,  and  the 
Christian  church  in  the  neighborhood,  in  Robinson's  Palestine,  iii. 

113,  70V  x<^(J-  0  £6o)K. 

The  important  words  "  the  gift  of  God  "  have  been  misunderstood 
by  many  commentators.  Some  suppose  them  to  mean  "  our  Lord 
himself,"  and  to  be  in  apposition  with  the  next  clause  —  Kal  rig  eariv 
K.  T.  A.  Others,  "  this  opportunity  of  speaking  with  me."  Doubtless 
both  these  meanings  are  involved,  especially  the  former ;  but  neither 
of  them  is  tlie  primary  one  as  addressed  to  the  woman.  The  water  is, 
in  this  first  part  of  the  discourse,  the  subject,  and  serves  as  a  point  of 

G* 


66  SCKIPTURE    READINGS. 

connection,  whereby  the  woman's  thoughts  may  be  elevated  and  her 
desire  aroused.  The  process  of  the  discourse,  in  this  particular,  is 
similar  to  that  in  Acts  xiv.  17.  From  recognizing  this  water  as  tlie 
gift  of  God,  in  its  limitation,  verse  13,  and  its  parabolic  import,  verse 
14,  her  view  is  directed  to  him  who  was  speaking  with  her,  and  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  See  eh.  vii.  37-39.  [rig  ecrrtv.]  These 
pregnant  words  form  the  second  step  in  the  Lord's  declaration.  He 
who  speaks  with  thee  is  no  ordinary  'lovSaioc,  nor  any  ordinary  man, 
but  One  who  can  give  thee  the  gift  of  God  —  one  sent  from  God,  and 
God  himself. 

Mount  Gerizim  :  on  this  once  stood  the  national  temple  of  the  Sa- 
maritan race.  In  Nehemiah  xiii.  28,  we  read  that  the  grandson  of  the 
high-priest  Eliashib  was  banished  by  Nehemiah,  because  he  was  son- 
in-law  to  Sanballat,  who  not  only  received,  but  (Joseph.  Ant.  xi.  8 
2-4)  made  him  high-priest  of  a  temple  which  he  built  on  Mount 
Gerizim.  Josephus  makes  this  appointment  sanctioned  by  Alexander 
when  at  Tyre  ;  but  the  chronology  is  certainly  not  accurate,  for  be- 
tween Sanballat  and  Alexander  is  a  difference  of  nearly  a  century. 

This  temple  was  destroyed  200  years  after  by  John  Hyrcanus, 
(b.  c.  129),  see  Joseph.  Ant.  xiii.  9.  1  ;  but  the  Samaritans  still  used 
it  as  a  place  of  prayer  and  sacrifice,  and  to  this  day  the  few  Samari- 
tans resident  in  Naplus  (Sichem)  call  it  the  holy  mountain,  and  turn 
their  faces  to  it  in  prayer.  They  defended  their  practice  by  Deut. 
xxvii.  4,  where  our  reading  and  the  Heb.  and  LXX.  is  Ebal,  but  that 
of  the  Samaritan  Pentateuch,  Garizim  (probably  an  alteration)  :  also 
by  Gen.  xii.  6,  7;  xiii.  4;  xxxiii.  18,  20;  Deut.  xi.  26.  "Our  fa- 
thers" most  likely  means,  not  the  patriarchs,  but  the  ancestors  of  the 
then  Samaritans. — Alvord. 


CHAPTER  V. 

BETHESDA.- ALLEGED  INTERPOLATION. -THE  PARALYTIC  .-STRENGTH 
AND  GRACE. THE  SABBATH.  THANKFULNESS. SIN  AND  SUF- 
FERING.   PERSECUTION.  THE     FATHER'S     SABBATH    WORK. — 

JESUS     ASSERTS    HIS    DEITY.  —  GIVER    OP    LIFE.  —  SEARCH     THE 
SCRIPTURES. 

It  does  not  seem  to  be  settled  by  any  parallel  passage, 
what  feast  it  was  on  the  occasion  of  which  Jesus  went  up 
from  another  part  of  Palestine  to  the  capital,  Jeru- 
salem. An  incident,  however,  is  recorded  on  his  arrival 
at  the  metropolis  of  his  country,  at  a  place  called  in  the 
Hebrew  tongue  Bethesda,  or  "  the  house  of  mercy,"  around 
which  were  five  sheds  or  porches,  for  the  shelter  of  the  sick 
or  the  invalids  that  came  to  be  benefited  by  its  waters, 
where  lay  a  great  multitude  "  of  impotent "  —  or,  as  we 
should  call  it,  paralytic  —  "  folk,  blind,  halt,  withered,  wait- 
ing for  the  moving  of  the  water."  It  is  stated  that  an  angel, 
at  a  certain  season,  went  in  and  stirred  the  water,  and  then 
whoever  stepped  in  first  was  healed.  It  is  not  probably 
meant  here  that  this  was  the  actual  historical  fact,  but  it  is 
recorded  as  the  impression  or  belief  of  the  people  at  the 
time  in  which  this  was  written.  Some  have  supposed  that 
the  4th  verse,  because  it  is  wanting  in  some  ancient  man- 
uscripts, was  originally  a  note  upon  the  margin,  and  has 
been  introduced  into  the  body  of  the  text  itself.  I  state 
this,  not  to  lead  you  to  suppose  that  there  are  other  inter- 
polations not  noticed,  but  to  show  that  so  strictly  has  every 
text,  and  passage,  and  clause  of  this  blessed  Book  been 
criticized,  sifted,  investigated,  that  the  least  apparent  devia- 
tion has  been  noticed ;  and  where  a  text  has  been  omitted 

(67) 


68  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

in  one  manuscript,  even  if  found  in  all  besides,  it  has  been 
noted  by  acute  and  impai-tial  critics,  who  have  devoted  their 
minds  to  the  examination  of  this  blessed  Book.  The  most 
ancient  manuscript  that  we  have  is  one  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum, Avritten  about  the  fourth  century  —  it  has  the  text; 
the  next  most  ancient  manuscript  is  that  in  the  Vatican 
Library  at  Rome ;  subsequent  to  these  are  many  other 
manuscripts  of  the  New  Testament.  I  have  already  ob- 
served, that  suppose  at  this  moment  every  manuscript  of 
the  New  Testament  in  existence  were  burned,  and  not  one 
left,  we  could  take  the  writers  of  the  first  four  centuries  of 
the  Christian  Church,  beginning  with  Justin  Martyr,  and 
ending  with  Jerome  and  Augustine,  and  we  could  collect 
from  their  writings  almost  all  the  texts  contained  in  the 
New  Testament.  So  that,  suppose  there  were  no  manu- 
script, contemporaneous  writers  have  quoted  almost  every 
text.  Augustine  has  a  commentary  upon  almost  every 
book.  We  find  that  the  very  contentions  and  disputes  that 
harassed  the  visible  Church,  in  the  first  three  centuries  of 
the  Christian  era,  were  actually  overruled  to  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  purity  of  the  texts  of  the  Bible ;  so  that  what 
we  find  in  manuscripts,  we  can  compare  with  what  we  find 
in  the  pages  of  controversial  writers,  and  see  that  nothing 
has  been  altered  from  the  earliest  day  even  until  now.  The 
usual  explanation  is,  that  the  pool  actually  received,  by  the 
special  descent  of  the  angel,  healing  or  sanitary  virtues ; 
and  that  crowds  went  to  it,  and  collected  round  it  for  that 
purpose.  The  main  reason  for  introducing  this,  however,  is 
to  bring  out  an  incident  of  very  great  value. 

A  certain  man  was  there,  who  was  a  paralytic  —  for  that 
is  the  meaning  of  his  infirmity  —  thirty  and  eight  years. 
Jesus  was  near  Bethesda ;  he  saw  him,  and  he  put  the 
question  to  him,  "  Wilt  thou  be  made  whole  ?  "  —  not  as  if 
there  could  be  any  doubt  about  the  man's  will,  but  in  order 
to  awaken  the  man's  feelings,  and  to  make  him  think  of  the 


JOHN   V.  69 

possibility  of  his  being  made  whole.  "The  impotent  man 
answered;"  —  thinking  there  was  no  virtue  beyond  the 
pool  of  Bethesda,  just  as  some  people  think  there  is  no 
spiritual  instruction  beyond  the  ordinance,  the  rite,  or  the 
sacrament,  and  forget  that  God  may  work  against  means 
or  above  means,  —  this  man,  thinking  that  except  by  Be- 
thesda there  could  be  no  healing,  stated  his  difficulty.  He 
says,  "  I  am  so  paralytic,  that  when  the  water  is  troubled, 
according  to  the  angel's  descent  once  a  yeai',  I  have  no 
man  that  will  take  compassion  upon  me,  and  put  me  into 
the  water,  that  I  may  be  made  whole."  "  Jesus  instantly 
saith  unto  him,  Rise,  take  up  thy  bed"  —  which  was  a  sort 
of  stool  or  chair  that  could  be  folded  —  "  take  up  thy  bed, 
and  walk."  The  man  might  have  said,  "  How  absurd  to 
make  such  an  address  to  me !  Why,  I  have  not  walked  for 
eight-and-thirty  years :  how  can  I  be  expected  to  get  up 
and  walk  now  ?  "  But  he  had  the  good  sense  to  do  just  as  he 
was  bid,  and  strength  came  while  he  was  doing,  or  seeking 
to  do,  what  Christ  commanded  him.  Now,  here  is  the  an- 
swer to  many  people  who  say,  "  How  can  I  be  a  Christian  ? 
how  can  I  believe  ?  You  admit  that  grace  is  a  divine 
thing,  and  its  gifts  sovereign."  I  admit  it  all ;  but  He  that 
says  to  you,  "  Rise,  go  forth,  and  do  the  duty  that  devolves 
upon  you,"  will  give  you  strength  to  do  it ;  not  whilst  you 
are  like  metaphysicians  or  theologians  in  a  synod,  discuss- 
ing knotty  and  ditlicult  problems ;  but  whilst  you  rise  up 
and  Avalk,  and  attempt  to  do  his  bidding.  "■  Immediately  the 
man  was  made  whole,  and  took  up  his  bed,  and  walked ; 
and  on  the  same  day  was  the  Sabbath.  The  Jews,  there- 
fore, said  unto  him  that  was  cured,  It  is  the  Sabbath  day : 
it  is  not  lawful  for  thee  to  carry  thy  bed."  They  had 
stretched  the  obligations  of  the  Sabbath  beyond  their  proper 
extent.  Whenever  men  push  an  ordinance  beyond  its 
proper  limits,  they  injure  the  ordinance ;  and  it  is  still 
quite  possible  to  take  so  Judaic  a  view  of  the  Sabbath  as 


70  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

to  injure  the  claims  and  the  sacredness  of  that  day.  The 
Christian  Sabbath  is  not  the  Jewish  one  —  to  be  mechani- 
cally observed,  to  be  rigidly  and  laboriously  regarded,  as  if 
we  were  made  for  the  Sabbath,  instead  of  the  Sabbath  being 
made  for  us  :  but  it  is  the  Lord's  day ;  and  the  spirit  of  the 
day,  not  the  letter  of  its  ancient  ritual  obligation,  is  what  we 
should  attend  to.  But  these  Pharisees  had  stretched  the 
obligations  of  the  day  beyond  their  legitimate  extent,  and 
said  it  was  sin  even  to  carry  a  stick,  or  to  carry  any  thing 
upon  the  Sabbath  day.  But  the  man  gave  them  the  best 
answer  that  he  could  have  given.  He  said,  "  I  cannot  dis- 
cuss this  difficult  question  with  you ;  I  am  not  disposed  to 
enter  into  a  controversy  with  you  as  to  the  extent  of  the  ob- 
ligations of  the  Sabbath ;  but  this  I  do  know,  that  he  that 
had  power  to  make  me  whole,  and  restore  health  by  a  word, 
gave  me  the  command,  '  Take  up  thy  bed  and  walk.' "  And 
his  argument  was  an  irresistible  one.  He  that  had  pov/er  to 
do  such  a  miracle,  you  may  depend  upon  it,  had  power  either 
to  dissolve  the  Sabbath,  if  it  seemed  good,  or  to  do  away 
with  the  obligations  of  the  Sabbath ;  for  he  must  be  the 
Lord  of  the  Sabbath.  Well,  then,  they  asked  him,  "  "What 
man  is  that  which  said  unto  thee,  Take  up  thy  bed  and 
w^alk?" — just  as  if  they  did  not  know.  They  knew  per- 
fectly well ;  it  was  only  the  inherent  carping  and  cavilling 
of  the  Pharisees  that  made  them  ask  a  question  to  which 
their  own  minds  could  give  an  answer.  But  "  he  that  was 
healed  wist  not  who  it  was  ;  for  Jesus  had  conveyed  him- 
self away." 

Then  after  this  "  Jesus  findeth  him  "  —  and  this  showed 
the  true  character  and  excellence  of  the  man — just  where 
mercies  received  should  carry  us  —  in  the  outward  temple 
of  God,  there  to  thank  and  bless  him.  Jesus  did  not  say  to 
him,  "  Go  to  the  temple,  and  return  thanks ; "  but  the  man's 
heart  said  to  him,  what  Jesus  approved  in  him,  "  Go  and 
render  thanks  for  the  great  benefits  that  you  have  received." 


JOHN    V.  71 

And  when  Jesus  v^^aw  him,  he  said  — "  Behold,  thou  art 
made  whole  "  —  that  you  Avell  know  —  "  sin  no  more,  lest  a 
worse  thing  come  unto  thee."  Now,  there  underlies  this 
intimation  a  very  great  truth  —  that  sin  and  suffering  are 
some  way  connected  the  one  with  the  other.  "  Sin  no  more, 
lest  a  worse  thing  come  unto  thee."  We  may  trace  all  the 
ills  and  aches  that  flesh  is  heir  to,  to  sin.  Jesus  knew  the 
reason  why  that  man  was  paralytic ;  he  knew,  probably,  the 
sin  that  brought  down  that  judgment.  We  cannot  pro- 
nounce like  Jesus ;  we  must  not  conclude  that  the  greatest 
sufferer  is  the  greatest  sinner.  We  must  not  always  attempt 
to  connect  suffering,  Avhether  it  be  individual  or  national, 
with  special  individual  or  national  sin.  Jesus  himself  has 
given  us  a  warning,  when  he  says,  "  Think  ye  that  those 
eighteen  upon  whom  the  tower  of  Siloam  fell  were  sinners- 
above  all  men  ?  I  tell  you,  Nay,"  —  instead  of  judging  of 
the  deserts  of  others,  "  except  ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  like- 
wise perish."  This  last  is  our  course.  Jesus  can  trace  the 
calamity  to  its  source  —  the  peculiar  suffering  to  its  specific 
sin  ;  we  cannot.  Our  business  is  never  to  pronounce,  but 
always  to  pray.  Where  we  see  the  greatest  suffering,  there 
is  reason  for  our  pity,  our  compassion,  and  our  prayers ;  but 
there  is  no  call  for  us,  poor,  blind,  erring,  fallible  men,  to 
pronounce  a  connection  which  we  cannot  trace,  and  of  which 
we  are  not  competent  judges. 

After  this  we  read  that  the  Jews,  when  they  found  Jesus, 
sought  to  slay  him.  For  what  ?  "  Because  he  had  done 
these  things  on  the  Sabbath  day."  What  horrid  perversion 
of  an  ordinance  of  God  was  here  !  It  is  lawful  to  do  good 
on  the  Sabbath  day.  You  ought  to  visit  the  sick,  you  ought 
to  compassionate  the  suffering  ;  if  you  see  a  brother  suffer, 
you  should  help  him  ;  if  you  see  your  neighbor's  ox  fall 
into  a  ditch,  you  should  try  to  extricate  it.  It  is  always 
lawful  to  do  that  which  is  good  on  the  Sabbath  day,  whilst 
it  is  not  lawful  to  turn  that  day  to  purposes  which  are  alike 


72  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

unnecessary,  unprofitable,  and  purely  seculai'.  They  sought 
to  kill  him :  such  was  their  zeal  for  a  crotchet,  that  they 
would  perpetrate  murder  to  vindicate  it.  How  like  the 
Church  of  the  middle  ages  !  how  like  the  principles  of  that 
Church  still !  they  put  to  death  a  heretic,  because  of  what 
they  call  heresy.  And,  strange  enough,  whenever  a  Church 
or  a  body  of  men  gets  this  spirit  into  it  (and  persecution, 
alas  !  has  not  been  the  monopoly  of  the  Church  of  Rome), 
it  will  connive  at  the  transgression  of  a  moral  law,  and  will 
murder  you  for  the  transgression  of  an  ecclesiastical  whim. 
Man  is  so  enamoured  of  his  tradition,  that  he  will  not  suffer 
you  to  trample  upon  it ;  but  he  gets  so  careless  of  God's 
law,  that  he  does  not  mind  your  trespassing  there.  How 
magnificent  was  the  reply  of  Jesus  !  He  says,  "  My  Father 
worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work."  Now,  the  meaning  of  that 
does  not  strike  at  first ;  but  yet  it  is  extremely  beautiful ;  it 
might  be  the  text  for  more  than  one  discoui'se.  "  My  Father 
worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work."  "  You  blame  me  for  work- 
ing. What  has  been  my  work  ?  The  healing  of  a  poor, 
imjDotent,  paralytic  man.  Well,  in  having  done  so,  I  have 
not  done  Avhat  is  contrary  to  the  laws  of  nature,  but  I  have 
done  what  is  in  full  consonance  with  those  laws  ;  for  my 
Father  worketh  hitherto."  There  is  not  an  ounce  of  sap 
rising  from  the  roots,  to  burst  into  bloom  and  blossom,  that 
is  not  rising  by  the  immediate  attraction  or  act  of  God. 
There  is  not  a  flower  that  blooms  in  the  field,  there  is  not  a 
blade  of  grass  that  grows,  there  is  not  a  star  that  moves  in 
its  orbit,  there  is  not  a  ray  of  light  that  travels  as  a  mis- 
sionary from  it  to  our  world,  there  is  not  a  heart  that  beats, 
there  are  not  lungs  that  breathe,  that  are  not  all  responding 
to  the  touch  of  my  Father.  God  carries  on  his  work  on  the 
Sunday  as  he  does  upon  the  Saturday.  If  God  were  to 
withdraw  his  power  upon  Sunday,  all  creation  would  stand 
still,  or  fall  to  pieces  and  become  chaos  again.  God,  there- 
fore, works  upon  the   Sunday  ;  he  maintains  nature.     The 


JOHN    V.  73 

grass  grows  upon  Sunday  as  well  as  upon  Saturday ;  the 
bees  hum,  and  the  birds  sing,  upon  Sunday  as  well  as  upon 
Saturday;  the  tlowers  bloom  upon  Sunday  as  well  as  upon 
Saturday ;  the  earth  travels  on  its  journey  upon  Sunday 
just  as  upon  Saturday. 

If  God  is  doing  all  these  things  upon  Sunday,  because 
necessary,  benevolent,  and  beneficent,  am  I  not  Avorking 
in  perfect  harmony  with  my  Father,  when  I  bring  back  to 
his  normal  and  right  state  a  man  whom  sin  and  suffering 
have  so  degraded  ?  How  instructive  the  reply !  "  My 
Father  worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work." 

Now  the  Jews,  like  all  fierce  ecclesiastics  still,  when  they 
cannot  get  one  excuse  for  putting  a  heretic  to  death,  will 
.find  out  another.  As  they  had  lost  the  excuse  for  putting 
him  to  death  for  violating  the  Sabbath,  his  answer  having 
completely  extinguished  their  objection,  and  made  them 
ashamed  of  themselves,  they  invented  another ;  and  they 
said.  Well,  let  us  leave  the  first,  but  here  is  another, — 
"  Therefore  the  Jews  sought  the  more  to  kill  him,  because 
he  n^t  only  had  broken  the  Sabbath,  but  said  also  that  God 
was  his  Father,  making  himself  equal  with  God."  lie  did 
do  so.  The  expression,  that  "  God  was  his  Father,"  is  very 
remarkable.  It  is  not  Tiarepa  avrov,  the  genitive  of  the  pro- 
noun, but  it  is  ISiov  narepa,  "  because  he  said  that  God  was 
his  Father  "  —  in  that  peculiar  sense  in  which  he  is  the 
Father  of  nobody  else.  All  will  admit  the  Jews  understood 
their  own  language  ;  and  they  construed  Jesus'  language  to 
involve  the  claims  and  prerogatives  of  God.  But  did  Jesus 
instantly  shrink  from  their  construction  ?  If,  when  they 
supposed  he  had  been  guilty  of  blasphemy  by  assuming 
divinity,  if  he  had  not  been  God,  but  simply  the  Socinian 
Saviour  man,  he  would,  like  Paul,  when  he  was  olfered  wor- 
ship, have  rent  his  garments  and  shrunk  from  the  awful 
blasphemy.  But  what  did  Jesus  say  ?  —  "  Verily,  verily, 
I  say  unto  you,  The  Son  "  —  keeping  the  very  connection 
7 


74  SCIUPTURK    READINGS. 

that  they  had  charged  with  blasphemy  —  '•  the  Son  can  do 
nothing  of  hiraseh",  but  what  he  seeth  the  Father  do  ;  for 
what  things  soever  he  doeth,  these  also  doeth  the  Son  like- 
wise ; "  that  is  to  say,  I,  as  Messiah,  am  not  here  acting  a 
part  independent  of,  or  contrary  to,  the  Father  ;  but  what  I 
see  the  Father  do,  that  I  do.  "  And  what  things  soever  the 
Father  doeth  "  —  making  worlds,  regenerating  hearts,  gov- 
ei'ning  the  universe  —  "  what  things  soever  the  Father  doeth, 
these  also  the  Son  doeth  likewise."  Now  he  who  said  so, 
was  either  a  blasphemer,  or  he  was  a  madman,  or  he  was 
the  mighty  God.  Could  I  say,  could  an  angel  say,  "  What- 
ever God  the  Father  does  and  can  do,  that  I  do  and  can  do 
also  ?  "  No,  impossible  ;  it  was  the  assumption  of  Deity. 
Jesus  assumed  to  be  what  he  was  —  God  ;  and  therefore  he 
says,  "  The  Father  loveth  the  Son,  and  showeth  him  all 
things  that  himself  doeth  :  and  he  will  show  him  greater 
works  than  these,  that  ye  may  marvel.  For  as  the  Father 
raiseth  up  the  dead,  and  quickeneth  them,  even  so  the  Son 
quickeneth  whom  he  will."  Now,  if  you  say  the  creation 
of  a  dead  orb  is  not  a  proof  of  Deity,  surely  you  will  say 
the  communication  of  life  is.  A  certain  chemist  thought 
that  he  had  discovered  that  he  was  able  to  make  living 
animalculag  or  insects  by  galvanism  ;  but  subsequent  inquiry 
showed  that  these  insects  or  animalculas  were  introduced 
among  the  substances  he  was  operating  upon,  and  he  gave 
up  the  pretensions  that  at  first  seemed  so  plausible.  What- 
ever you  can  do,  you  cannot  give  life.  You  cannot  say  to 
a  dead  man,  "  Rise  up,  and  walk."  Jesus  assumes  not  only 
to  be  the  Creator  of  worlds,  but  to  be  the  Lord  and  the 
Giver  of  life.  And  so  far  from  shx-inking  from  that  which 
they  accused  him  of,  he  says,  "  that  all  men  should  honor 
the  Son  even  as  they  honor  the  Father."  Is  it  possible  to 
conclude  that  Jesus  does  not  assume  to  be  God  ?  And  so 
again,  he  says,  "  He  that  honoreth  not  the  Son,  honoreth 
not  the  Father.     Noav,  I  have  no  doubt  the  Unitarian  does 


joiix  V.  75 

not  mean  to  dishonor  God,  and  I  should  be  tlie  last  rashly 
to  charge  him  with  deliberately  doing  so;  but  if  this  state- 
ment be  true  —  and  a  text  must  pass  like  lightning  through 
all  prejudice,  preference,  sympathy,  feeling  — 'then  the  Uni- 
tarian does  not  honor  God ;  for  this  statement  is,  "  He  tliat 
honoreth  not  the  Son,  honoreth  not  the  Father."  And  how 
are  you  to  honor  the  Son  ?  "  That  all  men  should  honor 
the  Son,  even  as  they  honor  the  Father."  He  that  denies 
the  essential  Deity  of  our  blessed  Lord,  pours  dishonor  upon 
God  the  Father.  I  do  not  say  that  the  Unitarian  intends 
to  do  it —  God  forbid.  There  are  men  of  devout  feeling 
and  sincerity,  seeking  and  groping  their  way  to  heaven, 
there  as  well  as  elsewhere ;  but  I  cannot  shrink  from  the 
plain  logical  consequence  of  this  statement,  which  is,  that 
to  reject  the  Deity  of  Jesus  is  to  dishonor  God  the  Father. 
In  other  words,  we  believe  in  the  Trinity  —  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Ghost  —  not  a  Tri-theism,  but  a  Tri-unity.  How 
to  explain  it,  or  to  comprehend  it,  I  know  not ;  but  it  is 
plainl}^  stated  in  the  Bible,  and,  like  other  truths  stated  but 
not  explained,  I  accept  it. 

He  then  declares  that  the  hour  is  coming  when  all  that 
ai'e  in  their  graves  shall  hear  his  voice,  and  the  saints  come 
forth  to  the  first  resurrection,  called  in  Scripture  the  resur- 
rection from  among  the  dead,  and  the  lost  to  that  second 
and  last  resurrection.  His  expression,  "  If  I  bear  witness 
of  myself,  my  witness  is  not  true,"  ought  to  be  explained. 
It  means,  "  If  I  bear  witness  of  myself,  my  witness  is  not 
received,"  because  it  requires  two  persons  to  bear  witness  ; 
but  he  says,  "  Here  is  John,  who  has  borne  witness  to  me  : 
here  are  miracles  I  do  ;  these  bear  witness  to  me,  and  are 
proofs,  therefore,  that  I  came  forth  from  God."  He  then 
says,  "  Search  the  Scriptures  ;  for  in  them  ye  think  ye  have 
etei-nal  life:  and  they  are  they  which  testify  of  me."  Now 
I  may  state  here,  that  in  the  Roman  Catholic  version  of  the 
Bible,  —  and  that  version,  with    all   its  faults,  has    many 


76  SCRTPTCRE    READINGS. 

truths  ;  and  I  should  be  quite  satisfied  to  combat  a  Roman 
Catholic  eiTor  out  of. the  Roman  Catholic  Bible,  it  is  per- 
fectly competent  and  sufficient  for  that,  —  it  is  not  "  Search 
the  Scriptures;"  but  "Ye  search  the  Scriptures,  for  in 
them  ye  think  ye  have  eternal  life."  Now  tpsware,  the 
Greek,  may  be  the  second  person  plural  of  the  present 
tense,  or  it  may  be  the  second  person  plural  of  the  impera- 
tive. It  may  be  either,  I  admit :  the  Roman  Catliolic  ver- 
sion may  be  the  best ;  we  can  only  determine  which  it  is 
likely  to  be  by  the  connection  of  it ;  but,  I  ask,  by  translat- 
ing it  in  the  present  tense,  do  they  gain  any  thing  by  it  ?  The 
very  reverse.  "  Ye  search  the  Scriptures,"  and  this  implies 
that  in  doing  so  they  do  what  is  right ;  and  he  says,  the 
reason  that  you  do  so  is  that  "  in  them  ye  think  ye  have 
eternal  life."  The  fact  is,  that  if  you  translate  it  in  the 
present  tense,  it  is  Christ's  assertion  of  an  act,  and  an  act 
which  he  sanctions ;  if  you  translate  it  in  the  imperative 
mood,  then  it  is  his  command  to  search  the  Scriptures.  But 
it  seems  to  me  that  the  right  rendering  is,  "  Search  the 
Scriptures,"  —  that  is,  engage  in  a  duty  you  have  neglected, 
—  "  and  they  are  they  which  testify  of  me." 

He  then  complains  that  they  will  not  come  unto  him,  that 
they  might  have  life.  And  then  he  says,  "  For  had  ye  be- 
lieved Moses,  ye  would  have  believed  me  :  for  he  wrote  of 
me.  But  if  ye  believe  not  his  writings,  how  shall  ye  be- 
lieve my  words  ?  "  —  if  you  reject  the  Old  Testament,  how 
can  you  accept  the  New  ?  If  you  are  not  saved  by  the 
Old,  how  can  you  be  saved  by  the  New  ?  Your  own  Scrip- 
tures condemn  you,  because  you  believe  not  their  testimony. 


CHAPTER  V.  39. 

FATHERS  AT  ISSUE  ON  "SEARCH  THE  SCRIPTCRES." ROME'S  PER- 
PLEXITY.  FIXITY  OF  SCRIPTURE. —  BIBLE  FOR  LAITY. INTELLI- 
GIBLE     TRANSLATION. SEARCHING,     ITS     IMPORT. WHAT      AVE 

SHOULD  SEARCH  FOR. —  IMPARTIAL  READING. PRAYERFUL   READ- 
ING   LEADS    TO    ETERNAL    LIFE. 

I  HAVE  already  noticed  in  the  course  of  my  explanatory 
remarks  that  there  was  a  dispute  between  the  Protestant 
Church  upon  the  one  hand  and  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
upon  the  other,  whether  the  Greek  verb  for  search  ought 
to  be  translated  in  the  present  indicative,  "  Ye  search  the 
Scriptures,"  or  in  the  imperative  mood,  "  Search  the  Scrip- 
tures." In  the  Roman  Catholic  version  it  is  in  the  present 
indicative,  "  Ye  search  the  Scriptures  ;  "  in  our  version  it 
is  in  the  ixnperative,  "  Search  the  Scriptures."  In  the  first 
it  is  the  declaration  of  a  fact ;  in  the  second  it  is  the  injunc- 
tion of  a  duty.  But  I  showed  you  that  whether  you  take 
it  in  the  one  way  or  in  the  other,  it  cannot  serve  the  purpose 
of  the  Romanist  in  asserting  that  the  study  of  the  Scrip- 
tures is  not  the  duty  of  the  laity  ;  for  if  it  be  translated  in 
the  present  indicative,  then  it  is  the  declaration  of  a  practice 
which  our  Lord  sanctions,  and  which  he  justifies,  and  by 
which  he  says  they  may  discover  eternal  life  :  and  if  it  be 
the  injunction  of  a  duty,  then  it  is  an  obligation  upon  all : 
either  way  it  vindicates  the  blessed  privilege  rather  than 
the  sacred  duty  of  searching  that  blessed  book,  which  is  the 
storehouse  of  the  things  that  belong  to  our  everlasting 
peace.  Every  member  of  the  Church  of  Rome  professes 
to  interpret  every  text  in  the  Bible  according  to  the  unani- 

7  *  (77) 


78  SCRII'TLRi:    READINGS. 

mous  consent  of  the  fathers.  Wliere  the  fathers  ai-e  not 
unanimous,  by  his  law  a  member  of  that  Church  cannot  put 
any  interpretation  upon  a  text  at  all.  A  text  therefore 
about  which  they  are  not  unanimous  is  a  text  to  a  Roman 
Catholic  that  might  as  well  be  written  in  Greek,  or  Scla- 
vonic ;  or  in  some  strange  language  with  which  he  has  no 
acquaintance,  and  of  which  he  does  not  understand  the 
meaning.  Now  this  very  text,  in  the  interpretation  of  which 
the  Church  of  Rome  difiters  from  us,  happens  to  be  variously 
understood  by  the  fathers.  For  instance,  Cyril  asserts  that 
it  ought  to  be  in  the  indicative,  the  present  indicative,  "Ye 
search  the  Scriptures."  On  the  other  hand,  Chrysostom 
and  Augustine  hold  that  it  ought  to  be  as  we  translate  it,  in 
the  imperative,  "  Search  the  Scriptures."  Now  here  is  one 
father  who  takes  the  Roman  Catholic  view,  and  here  are 
two  fathers  of  greater  importance  who  take  the  Protestant 
view.  We  Protestants  in  such  a  matter  can  fling  the  fathers 
to  the  winds,  and  deal  with  the  Bible  as  with  an  ordinary 
book ;  but  the  member  of  the  Church  of  Rome  dare  not  do 
so.  The  fathers  are  not  unanimous ;  he  therefore  must  put 
no  interpretation  upon  the  text  at  all ;  and  he  must  there- 
fore cease  to  quote  it  in  controversy  as  bearing  either  one 
way  or  another.  And  if  he  will  interpret,  which  his  law 
does  not  authorize  him  to  do,  according  to  the  greater  weight 
of  Patristic  authority,  then  he  ought  evidently  to  take  the 
Protestant  view ;  because  two  more  eloquent,  or  able,  or 
learned  fathers  than  Augustine  or  Chrysostom,  the  one 
Greek  and  the  other  Latin,  it  is  impossible  to  select  from 
the  whole  Bibliotheca. 

Having  seen  thus  far  how  we  are  warranted  in  interpret- 
ing this  passage,  I  notice  the  lessons  that  naturally  flow 
from  it.  First,  the  expression  here  applied  to  the  Bible  — ■ 
"  the  Scriptures  "  —  is  suggestive  of  a  most  precious  truth. 
God's  word  is  not  left  to  oral  transmission,  to  traditional  un- 
folding, but  is  written.     The  word  translated  by  us,  "  Scrip- 


.Toiix  V.  79 

tare,"  or  in  the  plural  "  Scriptures,"  means  something  written. 
To  search,  therefore,  the  Scriptures  is  not,  listen  to  oral  tes- 
timony, to  ecclesiastical  tradition,  to  Patristic  opinion  ;  but, 
search  that  which  is  written  —  the  scripture.  And  it  is  a 
very  blessed  fact  that  the  Scriptures  are  written.  They  are 
thus  a  stereotype.  Our  opinions  may  vary,  like  clouds 
about  a  mountain  top,  but  the  mountain  top  remains  whether 
the  clouds  are  resolved  in  showers,  or  deepen  into  greater 
mist  and  darkness.  So  this  blessed  book,  being  a  fixture, 
remains.  The  commentaries  of  men  very  often  are  in 
collision,  but  tlie  great  and  blessed  fact  remains,  that  God's 
word,  like  himself,  is  immutable  —  it  is  a  fixture  —  it  is 
written. 

You  will  notice  too  another  lesson  suggested  by  this  ex- 
pression —  namely,  that  the  word  "  scripture "  is  in  the 
plural  number,  —  "  Search  the  Scriptures."  Now  I  admit 
at  once  the  New  Testament  was  not  written  when  these 
words  were  spoken  ;  and  of  course  any  one  wishing  to  argue 
might  say  that  this  does  not  apply  to  the  New  Testament. 
But  every  one  will  admit  that  it  applies  to  the  Old ;  and  if 
it  be  a  duty  to  search  the  Old,  which  has  no  greater  claim, 
it  cannot  be  the  reverse  to  search  the  New,  which  has  at 
least  equal  claim.  If  it  be  a  duty  to  search  that  which  is 
most  difficult  to  be  understood,  it  surely  cannot  be  the  re- 
verse to  search  that  wliich  is  most  plain  and  easy  to  be  un- 
derstood. But  apart  from  this,  why  is  the  plural  number 
used  ?  Because  the  Old  Testament  consists  of  many  parts. 
The  common  division  among  the  Jews  was,  Moses,  the 
Psalms,  and  the  Prophets  ;  or,  the  Law  and  the  Prophets. 
Some  parts  of  the  Old  Testament  are  history,  some  parts 
are  biography,  some  parts  are  song,  some  parts  are  prayer, 
some  parts  are  praise,  some  parts  are  prophecies ;  but  all 
of  them  are  given  and  inspired  of  God ;  all  of  them  profit- 
able for  doctrine,  for  instruction,  for  correction  in  rigliteous- 
ness  :  and  therefore  the  word  Scripture  is  employed  because 


80  SCKIPTURE    HEADINGS. 

the  several  forms  all  constitute  one  great  and  precious 
revelation  of  God.  The  truths  remain  equally  inspired, 
the  formulas  in  which  those  truths  are  conveyed  vary  ac- 
cording to  the  writer  and  the  circumstances  of  the  age  in 
which  he  lived. 

The  passage  in  the  next  place  shows,  that  it  was  addressed 
to  the  laity,  to  all  the  people  that  were  met  together;  some 
lawyers,  some  Pharisees,  some  publicans,  and  others  ;  it  im- 
plies that  the  laity,  that  is,  Christian  people,  ought  to  have 
the  Bible.  It  seems  a  monstrous  thing  to  state  what  ap- 
pears to  us  so  obvious  a  truism  —  that  a  Christian  should 
have  the  Bible.  But  yet  it  needs  sometimes  to  be  taught ; 
because  there  are  those  who  argue  that  you  should  not  read 
the  Bible  for  yourselves,  but  only  hear  it  as  it  is  doled  out 
to  you  at  the  discretion  of  the  preacher.  Now  it  does  ap- 
pear that  one  of  the  plainest  lessons  taught  in  the  Bible, 
and  the  most  difficult  to  escape,  is  that  the  Bible  is  for  the 
laity.  In  the  first  place  the  laity  have  souls  to  be  taught ; 
they  need  that  book  out  of  which  they  can  be  taught.  In  the 
second  place,  a  layman  is  as  capable  of  understanding  plain 
and  simple  statement  of  fact  as  the  most  educated  clergy- 
man. And  in  the  next  place,  the  laity  are  just  as  learned 
as  are  the  clergy.  And  in  the  last  place,  every  Epistle  in 
the  New  Testament,  except  three,  is  addressed  to  the  lay 
people,  or  to  the  Christian  people,  and  not  to  the  ministers 
at  all.  And  therefore  it  is  plain  that  the  Christian  people 
ought  to  have  the  Scriptures ;  for  the  command  to  search 
the  Scriptures  implies  they  previously  had  the  book,  or  how 
could  they  search  a  book  that  they  had  not  in  their  own 
possession  ?  And  in  the  next  place,  the  passage  plainly 
teaches  that  the  Bible  is  an  intelligible  book.  If  it  be  unin- 
telligible, what  use  can  there  be  in  searching  what  we  can 
never  understand  —  what  use  in  trying  to  go  into  a  laby- 
rinth that  has  no  avenue  that  leads  to  open  day  ?  What 
is  the  use  of  readin";  a  book  that  we  cannot  understand  ? 


JOHN    V.  81 

The  meaning  of  a  book  is  to  reveal  something ;  the  mean- 
ing of"  reading  a  book  is  to  inform  you  of  something ;  and 
if  we  are  commanded  to  read  this  blessed  book,  surely 
there  underlies  the  previous  fact  that  the  book  is  intelli- 
gible to  those  that  will  impartially  and  dispassionately 
read  it. 

And  in  the  next  place,  it  would  seem  to  imply,  too,  that 
the  Bible,  as  addressed  to  all  of  every  age  and  country,  is  a 
book  translated  into  the  vernacular  of  the  country  in  which 
we  live.  This  New  Testament  was  written  in  Greek,  the 
Old  in  Hebrew.  Unless  translated  into  different  tongues 
both  would  be  in  languages  that  most  of  us  do  not  under- 
stand. But  our  blessed  Lord  sanctioned  the  translation  of 
the  Bible  ;  for  he  quotes  oftener  from  the  Septuagint  Greek 
than  he  does  from  the  original  Hebrew  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment Scriptures.  But  what  does  this  teach  us  ?  That  as 
the  Septuagint  was  a  translation  of  the  original  Hebrew 
into  the  tongue  of  the  great  mass  of  mankind  before  the 
advent  of  our  Lord,  and  our  Loi-d  was  pleased  to  quote  the 
Septuagint  over  and  over  again,  it  implies  that  he  author- 
izes thereby  the  translation  of  the .  Bible  into  the  vulgar 
tongue  or  the  vernacular  of  the  country  in  which  it  is 
printed,  and  therefore  sanctions  the  great  truth  that  every 
man  should  not  only  hear  the  Gospel  preached,  but  read 
the  Bible  translated  into  that  tongue  wherein  he  was  born. 

And  in  the  next  place,  you  will  notice  here  that  our 
blessed  Lord  says  nothing  about  any  other  depository  of 
eternal  life  ;  "  Search  the  Scriptures,  for  in  them  ye  think" 
—  that  is,  you  justl;f  conclude,  very  properly  believe,  that  in 
them  "  ye  have  eternal  life." 

Let  us,  however,  turn  our  attention  to  the  main  duty  that 
is  insisted  on,  namely,  "  search."  The  word  is  extremely 
expressive.  It  denotes  search  for  something  you  have  lost. 
Search  the  earth  for  its  Eden  ;  search  the  ocean  for  its  pre- 
cious pearls  ;  search  amid  all  difliculty,  in  face  of  the  great- 


82  SCKIPTUKE    EEADIXGS. 

est  peril,  for  that  which  you  believe  and  know  to  be  most 
precious.  Now  there  is  no  earthly  blessing  attainable  with- 
out toil ;  man  does  not  earn  his  bread  without  labor.  And 
why  should  we  expect  to  have  and  receive  truth  without 
toil  ?  It  is  right  we  should  have  the  Bible,  it  is  a  privilege 
to  be  able  to  read  it ;  but  it  is  still  duty  to  search  it,  and 
to  search  it  diligently  till  we  find  out  the  great  and  precious 
truths  which  relate  to  the  salvation  of  the  soul,  to  the  glory 
of  God,  and  the  well-being  of  mankind.  The  w^ord  accord- 
ingly implies  that  you  are  to  explore  the  sacred  volume  as 
the  miner  explores  the  earth  for  its  seams  of  gold,  as  the 
diver  descends  into  the  deep  for  its  precious  pearls  ;  not 
ceasing  to  search  till  you  have  discovered  what  God  has 
promised  to  guide  you  to — his  own  blessed  and  well-be- 
loved Son.  Then,  in  the  second  place,  when  you  search  the 
Bible,  search  it  to  disiiover  what  the  Bible  was  given  to 
reveal.  Some  people  search  the  Bible  to  find  out  what  are 
its  opinions  upon  astronomy,  or  upon  natural  histoiy,  or 
upon  some  other  scientific  and  intricate  subject.  If  you 
search  the  Bible  for  that  end,  you  treat  it  in  the  same  way 
as  if  you  were  to  search  a  book  vipon  theology  for  lessons 
on  astronomy,  or  as  if  you  were  to  search  a  book  on  miner- 
alogy for  lessons  on  botany.  You  take  up  a  book,  and  you 
read  it,  in  order  to  discover  why  that  book  was  written. 
This  blessed  Book,  while  it  teaches  us  something  of  every 
great  subject  that  relates  to  God's  providential  government, 
was  intended  not  to  make  men  good  botanists,  great  theolo- 
gists,  acute  philosophers ;  but  to  lead  them  to  Christ  and 
make  them  Christians.  You  are  therefore  to  search  this 
Book  to  find  out  what  God  has  revealed  concerning  you, 
your  responsibility,  your  destiny,  your  hopes,  your  fears, 
all  that  you  need  to  know  as  associated  with  that  which  is 
your  duty,  and  that  which  leads  to  eternal  life.  And  in  the 
next  place,  in  searching  this  Book  you  must  search  it  to  find 
out  what  is  God's   mind,  not  to   find   texts  to   prove  your 


JO  Ills  V.  83 

theory,  or  to  vindicate  your  communion.  Some  people 
open  tlie  Bible  witli  preconceived  views,  and  search  it  in 
order  to  find  texts  to  prove  them.  Now,  that  is  not  the 
way.  You  must  lay  down  every  prejudice  at  the  threshold; 
you  must  leave  every  practice  outside ;  and  you  must  go 
into  the  holy  of  holies  with  your  ear  open  to  hear  what  God 
the  Lord  will  speak.  And  if  your  most  cherished  prepos- 
sessions should  be  resisted,  if  your  most  inveterate  preju- 
dices should  all  be  opposed,  you  may  regret  it ;  but  you 
must  lay  down  the  dearest  prejudices,  the  most  cherished 
prepossessions,  Avhen  God  says  the  contrary  is  his  mind,  and 
his  word,  and  his  truth.  In  other  words,  you  must  not 
carry  your  creed  to  the  Bible,  and  read  the  Bible  in  the 
light  of  your  creed  ;  but  ■  you  must  carry  your  creed  to  the 
Bible,  and  read  your  creed  in  the  light  of  the  Bible.  You 
are  not  first  to  lay  down  a  creed  and  hunt  up  texts  to  sup- 
port it ;  but  you  are  first  to  open  the  Bible,  and  find  what  is 
written,  and  deduce  your  creed  from  what  is  written  in 
that  Book,  which  ends  all  controversies,  and  settles  all  dis- 
putes. Remember  that  the  Roman  Catholic's  sin  is,  that  he 
reads  his  Bible  in  the  light  of  the  Chui'ch,  as  he  calls  it,  or 
of  the  fathers  ;  but  it  is  no  less  Roman  Catholic  to  read 
your  Bible  in  the  light  of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  or  in  the 
light  of  the  Scotch  Confession  of  Faith  ;  it  is  just  as  popish 
a  practice.  We  are  to  read  the  Bible  as  God's  Word,  re- 
jecting creeds  and  articles  that  contradict  it ;  only  thankful 
when  we  find  that  what  we  hold  is  supported  and  confirmed 
by  this  blessed  and  inspired  volume. 

In  the  next  place,  you  are  to  search  this  blessed  book 
impartially.  Many  people  do  not  do  so.  They  open  the 
Bible,  and  they  seize  upon  any  passage  which  appears  to 
prove  their  opinions,  and  they  pass  over  anotlier  passage 
which  does  not  fall  in  with  their  preconceived  notions  ;  and 
they  magnify  one  truth,  and  diminish  to  the  utmost  another 
truth.      One  opens  the  Bible  as  a  Calvinist  ;  and  he  reads 


84  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

only  texts  tliat  seem  to  support  Calvinism.  Another  is  an 
Arminiau,  and  lie  reads  only  texts  that  support  Arminian- 
ism.  Now,  the  fact  is,  we  must  read  the  whole  page  from 
its  commencement  to  its  close ;  and  if  one  text  cannot  agree 
with  our  Calvinism,  we  cannot  help  it;  if  another  cannot 
agree  with  our  Arminianism,  we  cannot  help  it.  The  Bible 
is  not  Arminianism,  nor '  Calvinism ;  we  must  bring  all 
our  isms  to  the  law  and  to  the  testimony;  and  if  they 
be  not  according  to  it,  it  is  because  there  is  no  truth  in 
them. 

In  the  next  place,  we  must  search  this  blessed  book 
always  in  prayer.  It  is  a  great  ordinance,  that  the  wayfar- 
ing man  that  searches  the  Bible,  and  prays  that  the  Spirit 
of  truth  may  teach  him  its  meaning,  will  never  err  therein  ; 
it  is  no  less  true  that  you  may  search  the  Bible  from  morn- 
ing to  night  without  prayer,  and  God  will  not  suffer  you 
thus  savingly  to  understand  it.  It  is  part  and  parcel  of  his 
own  law  that  you  shall  read  the  Bible,  but  read  it  looking 
to  him  for  light  and  dii'ectiou  to  help  you.  And  it  is  a 
blessed  thought  to  us,  that  the  Author  of  the  Book  still  lives ; 
and  that  what  is  in  the  Book  which  we  do  not  understand, 
we  may  reverently  ask  the  Inspirer  of  the  Book  to  make 
plain  and  unmistakable  to  our  minds.  I  do  not  mean  that 
you  are  never  to  use  comments,  or  commentaries,  or  notes, 
—  I  think  they  are  most  valuable.  But  the  fiict  is,  that 
each  has  his  favorite  commentator,  and  when  he  looks  at  a 
text  he  says,  "I  will  believe  what  Scott  or  what  Henry 
says ; "  and  another,  what  Barnes  says.  Comments  are 
very  useful  in  their  place,  but  you  should  not  depend  upon 
the  comment,  nor  take  always  the  commentaries  upon  a 
text ;  consult  Scott,  and  Henry,  and  Barnes,  but  if  needs  be 
reject  all  three.  They  cannot  take  your  responsibility,  and 
you  have  the  same  understanding  that  they  had,  the  same 
promised  Spirit  to  teach  you,  the  same  Bible  with  greater 
light  on  it  to  study ;   and   therefore  you  must  search  the 


JOHN   V.  85 

Scriptures  for  yourself,  and  though  j'ou  may  use  com- 
ments, you  must  not  incorporate  them  with  God's  own 
Word. 

Our  blessed  Lord  tells  us,  in  the  next  place,  we  shall  find 
in  this  book  Avhat  we  can  find  nowhere  else.  In  all  the 
flowers  of  summer,  in  all  the  buds  of  spring,  you  find  life 
for  a  season,  but  death  in  the  end.  In  all  that  is  visible  on 
the  surface  of  our  globe,  in  all  our  social  economy,  we  find, 
day  by  day,  gaps  taking  place,  and  faces  that  were  familiar 
passing  away,  and  recollected  only  in  the  page  of  memory. 
But  in  this  blessed  book  we  find  tidings  that  have  their  echo 
in  heaven ;  truths  that  never  shall  become  obsolete  or  old  ; 
promises  and  hopes  that  stretch  from  earth,  and  culminate 
only  in  eternal  glory.  In  this  book  we  have  eternal  life. 
We  have  the  tidings  of  it,  it  is  there  revealed  to  us  :  we  are 
not  left  to  guess  it,  or  to  work  it  out  as  a  problem,  but  to 
read  it  as  a  statement  upon  God's  authority.  We  have  in 
this  blessed  book  Him  who  is  the  Author  of  it :  "I  give 
unto  them,"  says  the  Saviour,  "  eternal  life  ;  and  none  shall 
pluck  them  out  of  my  hand."  He  is  also  the  purchaser  of 
it :  He  has  redeemed  us  by  his  blood,  and  secured  for  us 
eternal  life.  And  we  have  in  this  book  also  the  promise  of 
it.  The  eternal  life  is  in  the  book  because  Christ  is  in  it. 
We  must  not  look  at  the  Bible  as  if  it  were  in  Christ's  stead : 
for  glorious  and  blessed  as  the  Bible  is,  it  is  to  lead  us  to 
Christ,  not  to  take  Christ's  place.  But  eternal  life  is  not  in 
the  book,  but  in  Christ  who  is  revealed  in  the  book  ;  and 
because  Christ  is  here  revealed,  the  book  that  reveals  him 
is  said  to  have  eternal  life.  And  our  blessed  Redeemer 
therefore  assures  us  that  those  that  search  this  book  in  the 
spirit  I  have  tried  to  indicate,  will  find  in  it  eternal  life. 
And  the  reason  they  find  eternal  life  in  it,  and  the  reason 
why  it  is  so  precious  is,  "  These  are  they  "  —  the  Scriptures 
— "  that  testify  of  me."  The  whole  Bible  is  full  of  that 
blessed  Saviour.     Moses  wrote  of  him,  Isaiah   proclaimed 


86  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

him,  David  sung  liis  praise.  Tlie  New  Testament  is  inlaid 
with  his  name ;  and  the  more  clearly  we  understand  this 
book,  the  more  directly  shall  we  be  led  to  the  knowledge 
and  to  the  love  of  him,  and  to  trust  on  him  who  is  Alpha 
and  its  Omega,  its  beginning  and  its  end. 


Note. —  B/jdeadu  =  "the  house  (place)  of  mercy,  or  of  grace." 
Its  present  situation  is  very  uncertain.  Robinson  established,  by  per- 
sonal inspection,  the  fact  of  the  subterranean  connection  of  the  pool 
of  Siloam  and  that  called  the  fountain  of  the  Virgin  ;  and  has  made 
it  probable  that  the  fountain  under  the  Grand  Mosque  is  also  connected 
with  them  ;  in  fact,  that  all  these  are  but  one  and  the  same  spring. 
(See  also  some  interesting  particulars  respecting  an  attempt  made  sub- 
sequently to  prove  this  connection,  and  mention  of  a  fourth  fountain 
with  the  same  peculiar  taste  as  tiie  water  of  Siloam,  in  Williams' 
Holy  City,  p.  331 .)  Now  this  spring,  as  he  himself  witnessed  (c.  506), 
is  an  intermittent  one,  as  indeed  had  been  reported  before  by  Jerome 
(on  Isa.  viii.  6),  Prudentius  (in  Trench),  William  of  Tyre,  and  others. 
There  might  have  been  then,  it  is  obvious,  some  artificially  constructed 
basin  in  connection  with  this  spring,  the  site  and  memory  of  which 
have  perished,  which  would  present  the  phenomenon  here  described. 
The  spot  now  traditionally  known  as  Bethesda  is  a  part  of  the  fosse 
round  the  fort  or  tower  Antonia,  an  immense  reservoir  or  trench, 
seventy-five  feet  deep.  But  as  Robinson  observes  (c.  489),  there  is  not 
the  slightest  evidence  that  can  identify  it  with  the  Bethesda  of  the  New 
Testament.     This  pool  is  not  mentioned  by  Josephus. —  Alford. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CROWD    FOLLOWS    JESUS. THE    QUESTION    OF    JESUS. MIRACLE. 

"waste    NOT  want    NOT." ELEMENTS    IN  CHRISt's    MIRACLES. 

NATURE    AND  MIRACLES. ADVICE    OF  JESUS. DIVINE  TEACHING. 

TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 

In  the  course  of  such  expository  remarks  as  time  permita 
me  to  make,  I  can  promise  only  to  touch  the  mere  surface 
of  a  chapter  so  full  of  jjrecious  instruction,  and  so  rich  and 
inexhaustible  in  truth,  as  that  which  we  have  now  read. 
Each  verse  in  it  is  worthy  of  a  sermon,  each  thought  in  it  sug- 
gestive of  a  thousand.  We  read  that  a  great  multitude  follow- 
ed Je-sus  into  the  desert,  because  they  saw  the  great  and  super- 
natural deeds  that  he  did,  the  credentials  of  One  who  had 
come  down  from  heaven,  and  was  either  God,  or  in  the 
language  of  Nicodemus  must  have  had  God  with  him.  It 
appears  that  this  great  company  had  come  beyond  the  reach 
and  the  possibility  of  supply,  having  left  the  places  where 
they  could  purchase  food  far  in  the  rear,  and  themselves 
were  destitute  of  any  means  of  supply  or  satisfaction.  Their 
zeal  in  following  Jesus  had  carried  them  beyond  what,  in 
ordinary  circumstances,  seemed  discretion  ;  and  they  began 
to  feel  the  pangs  of  hunger  where  they  could  see  no  pros- 
pect of  removing  or  satisfying  it.  Jesus  asked,  "  Whence 
shall  we  buy  bread,  that  these  may  eat  ?  "  and  he  did  so,  as 
in  many  of  the  questions  that  he  put,  not  that  he  felt  the 
least  dilRculty,  but  that  he  might  waken  their  wits  to  see 
how  utterly  impossible  it  was  for  human  supply  to  meet  the 
necessities  of  so  many,  and  that  their  minds,  therefore,  and 
their  attention,  might  be  more  riveted  on  the  stupendous 

(87) 


88  SCP.TPTURE    READINGS. 

miracle  of  beneficence  which  he  was  now  about  to  perform. 
Philip  told  him"  the  honest  truth,  that  they  had  only  a  few 
pennyworths  of  bread,  and  nothing  at  all  adequate  to  the 
demands  of  so  great  a  multitude.  And  Andrew,  Simon 
Petei"'s  brother,  thinking  that  with  rigid  economy  a  fragment 
might  be  distributed  to  each,  said,  "  "We  have  five  barley 
loaves,  and  we  have  two  small  fishes ;  but  alas,  what  are 
these  among  so  many  ? "  Jesus,  without  asking  another 
question,  with  all  the  calmness  and  composure  that  indicated 
the  presence  of  the  Lord  of  infinite  resources,  said,  "  Sit 
down  ;  "  and  they  did  so.  There  is  a  remark  thrown  in, 
"  Now  there  was  much  grass  in  the  place."  This  is  the 
•remark  of  a  witness  of  the  scene.  No  writer  merely  getting 
up  a  scene,  no  novelist  inventing  one  would  have  added  so 
natural  and  so  simple  a  remark  as  this,  "  Now  there  was 
much  grass  in  the  place.  So  the  men  sat  down,  in  number 
about  five  thousand."  Jesus  gave  thanks,  distributed  the 
bread,  and,  lo !  the  loaves  multiplied  in  their  distribu- 
tion, the  fish  was  increased  in  the. hands  of  them  that  j^ar- 
took  of  it ;  and  the  disciples  were  able  to  gather  up  iiiany 
fragments  that  remained,  after  the  necessities  and  the  de- 
mands of  so  great,  and  now  so  satisfied,  a  multitude.  There 
is  something  beautiful  in  the  admonition,  "  Gather  up  the 
fragments."  He  who  had  all  the  resources  of  infinitude  at 
his  command,  would  not  waste  a  fragment !  It  is  a  common, 
but  a  Christian  proverb,  "  Waste  not,  want  not,"  and  he  that 
wastes  needlessly  deserves  richly  to  want ;  and  he  that  has 
plenty  ought  not  to  waste ;  for  the  Lord  of  all  plenty,  the 
Maker,  Creator,  and  Proprietor  of  all,  would  not  allow  one 
fragment  to  fall  that  v.'ould  be  useful  to  a  single  human  be- 
ing, or  that  could  be  gathered  up  and  collected  for  the  benefit 
of  others  that  were  not  there. 

Now  this  miracle  has  two  aspects,  —  first,  the  evidence 
of  omnipotent  power,  and,  secondly,  what  was  in  all  the 
miracles  of  Jesus,  the  evidence  of  infinite  beneficence.     The 


JOHN  VI.  89 

miracles  of  Christ  have  always  two  elements, — first,  the 
element  of  power ;  secondly,  the  element  of  goodness  ;  and 
one  does  not  know  which  most  to  admire,  —  the  beneficence 
that  was  in  the  author  of  the  miracle,  or  the  omnipotence 
that  constituted  the  substance  of  the  miracle.  It  is  always 
to  be  noticed,  too,  that  the  mii'acles  of  Jesus  are  not  compar- 
isons with  Popish  miracles,  but  perfect  contrasts.  Jesus 
never  wrought  a  miracle  unless  at  the  bidding  of  a  i:)rovi- 
dential  necessity.  lie  did  not  do  miracles  as  freaks  of 
power,  as  displays  of  greatness,  but  always  to  meet  a  want, 
to  heal  a  malady,  to  satisfy  hunger,  or  in  some  shape  to 
contribute  to  the  benefit,  the  well-being,  and  the  happiness 
of  mankind.  And  every  miracle  of  Chi-ist,  too,  was  essen- 
tially redemptive  ;  it  was  setting  nature  right  where  she 
had  gone  wrong ;  it  was  such  a  miracle  as  showed  some- 
thing was  wrong  in  nature,  and  that  the  Lord  of  nature 
only  could  put  it  right.  But  we  say  such  only  are  miracles ; 
but  the  truth  is,  there  is  as  great  a  miracle  going  on  every 
day.  The  fact  that  you  place  a  little  seed  into  the  soil,  and 
that  seed  by  the  influence  of  the  air,  the  rain,  the  sunshine, 
the  ammonia  and  carbon  in  the  soil,  should  grow  up  into  a 
stalk,  and  produce  golflen  fruits  in  autumn,  and  contribute 
to  the  feeding  of  ten  times  ten  thousand,  this  is  as  great  a 
miracle  every  bit.  The  contrast  between  the  seed  in  the 
soil,  and  a  loaf  upon  your  table,  is  as  complete  as  between 
five  loaves  here  and  the  feeding  of  as  many  thousand  ;  but 
we  are  accustomed  to  the  one,  and  we  call  it  nature ;  we 
are  not  accustomed  to  the  other,  and  we  are  constrained  to 
admit  that  it  is  the  Lord  of  nature.  But  the  fact  is,  the 
former  is  just  as  miraculous  as  the  latter ;  and  it  needs  as 
much  of  Deity  to  translate  spring  into  harvest,  as  it  needed 
of  Deity  to  transform  a  few  barley  loaves  into  food  for  so 
many  thousands.  The  fact  is,  we  are  sui'rounded  with 
miracles ;  but  they  are  so  common  that  we  cease  to  see  the 
hand  that  does  them.     What  a  strange  creature  is   man ! 


90  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

We  get  so  many  mercies  that  we  cease  to  be  thankful ;  we 
are  so  surrounded  with  miracles  that  we  cease  to  see  them. 
For  our  mercies  we  give  thanks  to  the  instrument ;  the 
miracles  of  God  we  attribute  to  the  laws  of  nature ;  and  in 
both  we  try,  designedly  or  undesignedly,  to  banish  God 
from  the  world,  and  work  creation  without  him. 

Having  done  this  great  miracle,  we  shall  find  him  next 
departing  to  a  distance  —  "  he  departed  again  into  a  moun- 
tain himself  alone,"  to  spend  the  night  in  prayer,  as  we  are 
elsewhere  told.  And  his  disciples  went  into  a  ship  to  cross 
to  the  other  side  of  the  lake  of  Gennesai'et.  A  storm  came 
on,  they  were  tossed  upon  the  waves,  they  see  Jesus  walk- 
ing towards  them.  Why  were  they  afraid  ?  They  were 
conscious  of  sin ;  and  man's  conscience  within  is  the  inter- 
preter of  all  events  that  take  place  without.  Whenever 
there  is  something  wrong  within,  we  always  construe  what 
betides  us  without  in  the  light  of  that,  and  think  it  must  be 
an  approaching  calamity,  not  an  approaching  deliverer. 
Hence,  when  man  suflFers,  if  he  be  living  in  sin,  he  looks  upon 
his  suffering  as  penal,  coming  from  a  judge  that  now  punishes 
him ;  but  if  he  be  a  Christian,  at  peace  with  God,  he  looks 
upon  his  sufferings  as  chastisement,'  coming  from  a  Father 
that  loves  him,  and  therefore  he  is  not  afraid.  The  disciples 
in  the  storm  thought  it  was  a  spirit,  and  were  afraid ;  but 
Jesus  spoke  to  them,  saying, "  It  is  I ;  be  not  afraid."  These 
accents  were  comfort.  In  all  time  of  your  tribulation  let  the 
Christian  hear  in  the  midst  of  its  waves  and  its  noise,  "  It  is  I ; 
be  not  afraid."  In  all  time  of  your  sickness,  or  sorrow,  or  be- 
reavement, hear  that  voice,  not  spent  by  its  transmission  along 
the  centuries,  but  living  still,  "  It  is  I ;  be  not  afraid."  Jesus 
is  as  much  in  the  tiniest  rill  of  sorrow  that  finds  access  to  an 
humble  orphan's  heart,  as  he  was  in  the  waves  of  the  sea 
that  lay  still  beneath  his  feet,  or  amid  the  winds  when  he 
hushed  them,  and  there  was  a  great  calm. 

We  read  next,  that  a  great  multitude  followed  him,  not, 


JOHN  VI.  91 

he  tells  them,  because  of  the  miracles  wliicli  he  did,  but 
because  they  saw  that  he  could  give  them  food,  and  save 
them  the  trouble  of  working  for  it.  In  other  words,  they 
had  a  little  of  the  monkish  spirit  —  they  would  eat,  but  they 
would  not  work  ;  and  seeing  One  who  could  give  them 
bread,  they  thought  now  they  might  have  absolution  from 
the  trouble  of  toiling  for  it,  and  had  only  to  follow,  and  feed 
gratis.  Jesus  instantly  says  to  them,  "  Labor  not  for  the 
meat  which  perisheth."  The  word  labor  here  is  the  trans- 
lation of  a  verb  that  means  "  labor  anxiously  —  painfully  — 
vexatiously  ;  "  —  and  he  means,  "  Do  not  be  so  irritatingly 
anxious  about  the  bread  that  perisheth,  but  rather  the  more 
anxious  about  that  living  bread  which  endureth  unto  ever- 
lasting life." 

Then  they  ask  him  the  question,  "  What  shall  we  do," 
(that  is  human  nature,)  "  that  we  might  work  the  works  of 
God  ?  "  What  shall  we  do  to  deserve  heaven  ?  what  shall 
we  pay  to  purchase  it  ?  The  answer  of  Jesus  is,  I  think,  the 
most  striking  I'eply  that  is  given  in  the  whole  New  Testa- 
ment, and  the  most  satisfactory  that  one  can  quote  for  evan- 
gelical and  vital  religion  —  "This  is  the  work  of  God"  — 
this  is  what  God  requires  —  "  that  ye  believe  on  him  whom 
he  hath  sent."  The  price  of  heaven  is  the  Messiah ;  the 
way  to  heaven  is  faith  in  him  ;  he  asks  you  first  to  believe, 
next  to  work.  "  This  is  the  work  of  God,  that  ye  believe  on 
him  whom  he  hath  sent."  Then  they  instantly  exclaimed, 
"  What  sign  showest  thou  then,  that  we  may  see,  and  be- 
lieve thee  ?  what  dost  thou  work  ?  Our  fathers  did  eat 
manna  in  the  desert."  He  gave  them  bread  from  heaven^ 
there  was  a  continuous  shower  of  manna  for  forty  years- 
Now  we  want  you  to  continue  this ;  feed  us  from  day  to  day 
by  a  special  miracle.  Jesus  said,  "  Moses  gave  you  not  that 
bread  from  heaven"  —  he  gave  you  not  the  living  manna; 
he  gave  your  fathers  manna,  and  they  ate  of  it,  and  were 
full;  but  your  fathers  have  died;  -'but  my  Father  giveth 


92  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

you  now  the  true  bread  from  heaven.  For  the  bread  of 
God  is  he  which  cometh  down  from  heaven,  and  giveth  hfe 
unto  the  workl."  Then  tliey  said,  partly  not  knowing  what 
they  said,  "  Lord,  evermore  give  us  this  bread.  And  Jesus 
said  unto  them,  I  am  the  bread  of  life :  he  that  cometh  to  me 
shall  never  hunger ;  and  he  that  believeth  on  me  shall  never 
thirst."  And  then  he  tells  them  very  beautifully,  "All  that 
the  Father  giveth  me,"  or  as  he  says  in  his  own  intercessory 
prayer,  "  Thine  they  were,  and  thou  gavest  them  unto  me  "  — 
"shall  come  to  me."  Here  is  the  doctz'ine  of  sovereignty  or 
election  ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  here  is  the  responsibility  of 
the  creature,  "  Him  "  — whoever  he  is,  whatever  his  age,  his 
condition,  and  his  ruin  — "  that  cometh  to  me  I  will  in  no- 
wise cast  out."  •  The  Jews  then  murmured  at  him,  because 
he  said,  I  am  the  bread  which  came  down  from  heaven  ;  and 
they  said,  "  Is  not  this  Jesus,  the  Son  of  Joseph,  whose  fa- 
ther and  mother  we  know  ?  how  is  it  then  that  he  saith,  I 
came  down  from  heaven  ?  "  Jesus  then  explains  to  them  the 
dithculty  of  their  receiving  the  truth.  He  says,  a  man  needs 
to  be  taught  of  God  to  understand  these  things.  Now  here 
is  just  the  reason  of  the  errors  and  the  misconceptions  of  man 
in  interpreting  the  Bible ;  we  need  to  be  taught  of  God. 
We  may,  taught  by  man,  see  the  truth  clearly ;  but  unless 
taught  of  God  we  shall  not  feel  truth  savingly.  But  if  we 
are  not  taught  of  God,  it  is  not  because  the  Teacher  is  un- 
willing, but  because  the  pupil  will  not  submit  his  judgment, 
his  conscience,  and  his  heart,  to  be  taught  of  him. 

He  then  tells  them  that  he  is  not  only  living  bread,  but 
he  adds,  "  Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man,  and 
drink  his  blood,  ye  have  no  life  in  you."  And  again, 
"  Whoso  eateth  my  flesh,  and  drinketh  my  blood,  hath  eter- 
nal life."  I  need  not  tell  you  that  every  controversial  di- 
vine belonging  to  the  Church  of  Rome  has  made  this  chapter 
the  great  proof  storehouse  for  the  monstrous  dogma  of  Tran- 
substantiation.     And  certainly  when  a  clever  Jesuit  quotes 


JOTIN   VI.  93 

such  a  text  as  that  Ave  have  now  read  in  the  hearing  of  an 
unsuspecting  Protestant,  who  looks  at  the  text  alone,  wrenched 
from  the  context,  and  not  at  the  whole  continuous  discourse, 
lie  is  at  once  caught,  and  gives  in  his  acquiescence  in  the 
doctrine  of  Transubstantiation.  Now  the  first  evidence  that 
this  cannot  refer  to  that  doctrine  is  a  very  simple  one :  the 
Lord's  Supper  was  not  yet  in  existence ;  when  these  words 
were  spoken,  no  such  institution  was  known,  no  such  insti- 
tution was  expected.  How  could  Jesus  explain  the  nature 
of  an  ordinance  that  he  had  not  yet  defined  or  instituted  ? 
I  think  this  alone  must  be  conclusive.  In  the  second  place 
who  were  the  people  he  addressed?  Angry,  unbelieving 
Capernaites.  Is  it  possible  that  He  who  spoke  always  so 
seasonably,  spoke  about  an  uninstituted  ordinance  to  a  people 
that  did  not  yet  know  the  elements  of  Christianity,  and  of 
the  Gospel?  When  Nicodemus  came  to  him  he  preached 
the  very  alphabet  of  Christianity ;  is  it  likely  when  this  un- 
enlightened crowd  came  to  him  that  he  would  preach  to  them 
the  mysteries  of  an  uninstituted  rite  ? 

And  in  the  next  place,  let  us  notice  the  connection  of  the 
discourse :  when  the  woman  came  to  Jacob's  well  to  draw 
water,  how  did  Jesus  discourse  to  her  ?  He  took  the  water 
in  the  well,  and  he  made  that  the  text  from  which,  and 
through  Avhich,  as  a  symbol,  he  conducted  her  to  the  living 
water  that  he  could  give  to  them  that  were  athlrst.  So 
when  this  people  came  hungering  for  bread,  he  seizes  the 
bread  that  they  hungered  for  to  feed  their  bodies,  and  he 
makes  that  the  symbol  of  the  living  nutriment  that  was  re- 
quisite to  feed  their  souls.  And  then,  if  you  notice  the  per- 
fect parallelism ;  if  you  will  take  the  35th  verse,  he  says, 
"  He  that  cometh  to  me  shall  never  hunger ;  and  he  that 
believeth  on  me  shall  never  thirst ; "  and  then  he  says, 
"  Whoso  eateth  my  flesh,  and  drinketh  my  blood,  hath  eternal 
life ; "  "  Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man,  and 
drink  his  blood,  ye  have  no  life  in  you  ;  "  it  is  plain  that 


94  SCRIPTURE    READIXGS. 

coming  to  bim  leads  to  your  hungering,  and  that  eating  his 
flesh  and  drinking  his  blood  leads  to  the  same  result ;  and, 
thei-efore,  what  he  means  by  eating  his  flesh,  is  that  just  as 
at  the  Lord's  table  you  say,  "  This  is  my  body,  broken  for 
you,"  by  which  you  mean,  "  This  represents  the  benefits 
and  blessings  secured  and  procured  by  my  incarnation,  death, 
and  atonement  on  the  Cross  for  you,"  so  to  eat  of  that  body, 
or  of  that  flesh,  or  of  that  living  bread,  is,  as  Augustine 
sweetly  calls  it,  "-to  chew  the  doctrine,  and  to  drink  in  the 
truths  that  Christ  died,  and  that  Christ  is."  And  very  re- 
markable, the  Roman  Catholics,  who  profess  to  interpret  all 
the  Scriptures  according  to  the  unanimous  consent  of  the 
fathers,  seem  in  this  chapter  to  forget  their  own  law ;  for 
upon  this  subject  the  fathers  are  all  at  issue ;  three  fourths 
of  them  interpret  it  as  we  do.  Augustine,  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  and  evangelical,  says  this  passage  is  a  figure.  He 
says,  "  How "  could  they  eat  his  flesh  and  drink  his  blood  ? 
It  is  therefore  a  figure.  But,  if  one  were  replying  to  the 
Roman  Catholics,  one  would  say.  It  will  not  do  for  you  to 
quote  this  text  in  favor  of  Transubstantiation,  for  it  says, 
"  Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man,  and  drink  his 
blood,  ye  have  no  life  in  you."  Now,  ask  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic, You  eat  his  body  at  the  mass  when  you  communicate, 
but  do  you  drink  his  blood  ?  His  answer  is,  "  No  ;  we  are 
not  allowed  to  do  that."  But  if  the  text  says,  "  Except  ye 
eat  of  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man,  and  drink  his  blood,  ye 
have  no  life  in  you  ;  "  and  yet  while  quoting  this  text  in  favor 
of  his  own  dogma,  he  himself  omits  one  of  the  vital  elements  ; 
namely,  drinking  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  man,  had  he  not 
better  let  it  alone  ?  But  look  at  the  consequences  this  leads 
to.  If  this  describes  the  doctrine  of  Transubstantiation,  then 
every  one  that  eats  the  flesh  and  drinks  the  blood  of  the  Son 
of  man,  hath  eternal  life  —  then  Judas  has  eternal  life  ;  and 
what  will  shock  a  Roman  Catholic,  Martin  Luther  has  eter- 
nal life ;  for  both  these  ate  the  flesh  and  drank  the  blood  of 


JOHN  VI.  95 

the  Son  of  man.  And  now  the  converse,  "  Except  ye  eat 
the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man,  and  drink  his  blood,  ye  have  no 
life  in  you ; "  then  that  is,  "  Except  you  partake  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  you  have  no  life  in  you  ; "  but  the  thief  upon 
the  Cross  got  to  heaven,  and  he  did  not  partake  of  it ;  infants 
dying  in  infancy  get  to  heaven,  and  they  have  never  partaken 
of  it ;  and  therefore  it  proves  so  much,  that  it  reduces  it  to 
an  absurdity  to  apply  this  to  the  Lord's  Sapper  at  all.  And 
if  you  ask  our  Blessed  Lord  his  meaning,  he  tells  you  at 
once.  When  they  were  startled,  and  stumbled  at  his  saying, 
be  answered  in  the  63d  verse,  "  It  is  the  spirit  that  quick-j 
eneth,  the  flesh  profiteth  nothing."  It  is  the  spiritual  nutri-l 
ment  of  the  soul  that  is  of  good  ;  merely  taking  flesh  into  the 
stomach  can  do  you  no  good.  "  The  words  that  I  speak 
unto  you  are  not  to  be  taken  in  the  carnal  meaning  in  which 
you  take  them,  as  if  I,  standing  before  you,  were  to  give  you 
my  flesh;  but  they  are  to  be  taken  in  the  spiritual  sense  in 
which  I  have  spoken  them ;  and  which  give  to  those  that 
receive  them  everlasting  life."  Thus  we  see  there  is  no 
foundation  for  the  monstrous  dogma  here  ;  and,  if  there  be 
none  here',  there  is  not  the  shadow  of  a  shade  of  foundation 
for  it  anywhere  else.  We  eat  the  flesh  and  drink  the  blood 
of  the  Son  of  man  when  we  partake  of  the  purchase  that  his 
taking  flesh  has  bequeathed  to  us,  and  when  we  receive  for- 
giveness of  sins,  which  is  the  result  of  his  blood,  still  cleans- 
ing from  all  sin.  And  the  reason  why  eating  and  drinking 
are  so  often  used  in  Scripture  for  faith  is  this :  what  we  eat 
is  assimilated  or  turned  into  the  thews,  the  sinews,  the  flesh, 
and  the  veins  of  our  body ;  and  so  eating  and  drinking,  as 
applied  to  spiritual  things,  means  so  believing  and  receiving 
them  that  they  are  incorporated  with  our  very  souls,  and 
become  life,  and  peace,  *id  joy,  and  nutriment,  and  comfort. 


96  SCRIPTUKE    READINGS. 

Note.— [32.]  The  Lord  lays  open  the  course  of  their  argument. 
They  have  not  mentioned  Moses,  —  nor  was  the  giving  of  the  manna 
a  miracle  performed  by  Moses ;  but  He  knew  that  the  comparison  be- 
tween Moses  and  himself  was  in  their  minds,  and  answers  by  exposing 
the  error  which  represented  Moses  as  the  giver  of  tlie  manna.  Neither 
again  was  that  the  true  bread  from  heaven.  It  was  in  one  sense  bread 
from  heaven ;  but  not  in  this  sense.  It  was  a  type  and  shadow  of  the 
true  bread  from  heaven, — "  wliich  my  Father  is  giving  {dlduatv)  to 
you."  The  Lord  does  not  here  deny,  but  asserts,  the  miraculous  char- 
acter of  the  manna. 

[2.]  The  question  whether  there  is  any  reference  to  the  ordinance  of 
the  Lord's  Supper,  has  been  inaccurately  put.  When  cleared  of  inac- 
curacy in  terms,  it  will  mean,  "  Is  tiie  subject  here  dwelt  upon  the  same 
as  that  which  is  set  forth  in  the  ordinance,  of  the  Lord's  Supper?" 
And  of  this  there  can  surely  be  no  doubt.  To  the  ordinance  itself 
there  is  here  no  reference  ;  nor  could  there  well  have  been  any.  But 
the  spiritual  verity  which  underlies  the  ordinance  is  one  and  the  same 
with  that  here  insisted  on ;  and  so  considered,  the  discourse  is,  as  gen- 
erally treated,  most  important  towards  a  right  understanding  of  the 
ordinance.  —  Alford. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

VARIED    IMPRESSIONS.  —  THE    EARLY   BRETHREN    OF    JESUS, — THEIR 

ADVICE.  —  THE  SABBATH. MURMURING  ABOUT  JESUS.  —  OFFER  OF 

THE  SPIRIT.  XICODEMUS.  — HIS  SYMPATHY  AND  INTERPOSITION. 

"We  have,  in  the  whole  of  this  cliapter,  the  expressions  of 
the  tumultuous  feelings  of  a  crowd,  some  of  whom  were  im- 
pressed with  the  miracles  of  Jesus,  and  others  of  whom  could 
not  come  to  any  other  conclusion  than  that  he  deceived  the 
people,  and  pretended  to  be  what  in  fact  he  was  not.  One 
can  see  that  the  great  mass  of  the  laity,  in  all  probability, 
would  have  accepted  Christ  as  a  Saviour ;  but  that  the 
Pharisees,  and  priests,  and  those  that  sat  in  Moses'  seat,  be- 
cause of  the  intensity  of  their  passions  and  the  inveteracy  of 
their  prejudices,  wei'e  resolved  at  all  hazards  to  get  rid  of 
him,  to  shut  their  eyes  to  the  stupendous  feats  of  beneficence 
he  did,  and  to  close  their  ears  to  the  lessons,  the  arguments, 
and  the  appeals  that  he  so  impressively  and  so  conclusively 
made.  How  painful  is  the  very  lirst  recorded  fact  announced 
in  the  chapter,  that  the  Lord  of  glory  who  came  to  his  own 
had  to  forsake  his  own,  in  order  to  preserve  his  life  to  the 
fulness  of  the  time.  "  He  walked  in  Galilee  :  for  he  would 
not  walk  in  Jewry,  because  the  Jews  sought  to  kill  him. 
Now  the  JeAvs'  feast  of  tabernacles  was  at  hand.  His  breth- 
ren, therefore,  said  unto  him,  Depart  hence,  and  go  into 
Judea,  that  thy  disciples  also  may  see  the  works  that  thou 
doest.  For  there  is  no  man  that  doeth  any  thing  in  secret, 
and  he  himself  seeketh  to  be  known  openly." 

The  brethren  here  spoken  of  seem  to  have  been  literally 
by  relationship  the  brethren  of  Jesus.     It  does  not  mean 

9  (97) 


98  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

bi'ethi'en  in  the  sense  of  disciples,  for  it  says  expressly  that 
his  brethren  did  not  believe  in  him  :  and  that,  because  it  is 
added  in  the  fifth  verse,  these  brethren  who  advised  him 
did  not  beheve  on  him,  it  is  quite  plain  that  they  gave  him 
this  advice  in  irony,  and  as  the  expression  of  contemptuous 
disregard.  "  Depart  hence,  and  go  into  Judea ; "  do  not 
hide  that  light  of  yours  under  a  bushel.  Show  thyself  to 
the  world  ;  make  the  most  of  these  things  you  do,  or  pre- 
tend that  you  can  do ;  show  them  that  you  can  command 
the  eclat  which  we  have  no  doubt  you  are  seeking.  How 
painful  that  such  an  idea  should  have  been  entertained  by 
tlie  nearest  relatives  of  the  Lord  of  glory,  and  that  they 
should  have  spoken  to  him  in  the  language  of  contempt, 
who  spoke  to  them  only  the  words  of  everlasting  life  !  But 
mark  how  Jesus  replied  to  them  ;  and  what  a  precedent  he 
is  for  us  !  No  aci'imony,  no  smart  retort,  no  sarcastic  reply, 
but  the  ansAver  of  One  who  pitied  their  ignorance,  prayed 
for  their  souls,  and  ever  stood  ready  to  instruct  them,  if 
they  were  only  careful  in  hearing,  —  "  Jesus  said  unto  them, 
My  time  is  not  yet  come :  but  your  time  is  ahvay  ready."  ■ 
The  world  cannot  hate  you,  because  there  is  no  antagonism 
between  you  and  the  world ;  but  "  it  hateth  me,"  and  for  the 
very  obvious  reason  that  I  am  compelled,  in  faithfulness  to 
it,  and  from  affection  to  those  who  are  misled  by  it,  "  to  tes- 
tify of  it,  that  the  works  thereof  are  evil."  "We  then  read 
that  after  this  "  he  abode  still  in  Galilee  ;  "  and  afterwards 
he  came  to  the  feast  secretly ;  and  the  Jews  sous?ht  him, 
they  having  heard  that  he  was  there,  "  and  said,  Where  is 
he  ? "  And  then  you  have  the  different  impressions  pro- 
duced upon  the  public  mind.  "  Some  said.  He  is  a  good 
man ;  others  said.  Nay,  but  he  deceiveth  the  people."  But 
no  one  dare  say  a  faithful  word  "  for  fear  of  the  Jews,"  that 
is,  the  Pharisees,  the  scribes,  and  the  priests.  When  they 
heard  Jesus  speak,  "  they  marvelled,  saying,  How  knoweth 
this  man  letters  ?  "  that  is,  learning.     The  learning  among 


JOHN   VIT.  99 

them  was  peculiar,  namely,  acquaintance  with  the  Old  Tes- 
tament Scriptui-es  and  with  the  proper  meaning  of  the  law 
of  Moses.  Jesus  answer(?d  them,  "  My  doctrine  " — that  is, 
my  teaching,  not  the  tenets  I  liold,  but  the  teaching  you 
hear,  — "  is  not  mine  only"  —  for  that  is  the  meaning  of 
it,  — "  but  liis  that  sent  me."  Its  perfect  harmony  with 
God's  written  and  revealed  law  is  evidence  to  you  that  I 
am  preaching  not  a  new  doctrine,  but  unfolding  the  fulfil- 
ment of  that  which  is  old  and  true,  as  revealed  in  Moses, 
in  the  law,  and  in  the  prophets.  He  then  remonstrates  with 
them  mildly  why  they  should  seek  to  kill  him.  "  The  peo- 
jtle  answered  and  said,  Thou  hast  a  devil :  who  goeth  about 
to  kill  thee  ? "  all  the  while  knowing  that  they  were  lying 
in  wait  for  him,  seeking  to  destroy  him.  lie  then  meets 
the  objection  they  had  made,  that  he  had  profaned  the  Sab- 
bath. He  says,  Moses,  in  order  to  fulfil  a  ceremonial  law, 
used  the  Sabbath  when  it  was  the  eighth  day  for  the  fulfil- 
ment of  that  law.  If,  then,  Moses,  in  order  to  fulfil  a  cere- 
monial requirement  used  the  Sabbath,  how  should  ycfu  com- 
plain that  on  the  Sabbath  day  I  have  fulfilled  not  a  ceremo- 
nial requirement,  but  an  obligation  of  mercy,  of  charity,  and 
of  love?  If  it  be  lawful  to  do  what  is  ceremonial  on  the 
Sabbath,  it  is,  a  fortiori,  lawful  to  do  what  is  merciful  on 
the  Sabbath,  for  mercy  is  greater  than  sacrifice. 

They  then  objected  to  Jesu^that  they  knew  whence  he 
was,  but  that  no  one  Avould  know  whence  the  Messiah  was. 
This  was  their  misapprehension  ;  for  the  prophets  had  ex- 
pressly said  that  he  should  be  born  in  Bethlehem.  But 
others  again  said,  "  When  Christ  cometh,  will  he  do  more 
miracles  than  these  which  this  man  hath  done?"  And  the 
moment  that  the  Pharisees  heard  the  least  murmuring  of 
conviction  it  is  said  they  repelled  it,  and  sent  officers  to 
seize  Jesus.  He  then  told  them  that  he  would  go,  and  that 
they  should  not  be  able  to  follow  him.  "  Tlien  said  the 
Jews  among  themselves,  AVhither  will  he  go,  that  we  shall 


100  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

not  find  him  ?  will  he  go  unto  the  dispersed  among  the  Gen- 
tiles, and  teach  the  Gentiles?"  His  answer  is,  "Ye  shall 
seek  me,  and.  shall  not  find  me."  And  then,  in  the  last  day, 
that  great  day  of  the  feast  of  tabernacles,  when  its  solemnity, 
its  joyous  solemnity,  arrived  at  its  utmost  pitch,  Jesus  ad- 
dressed to  that  tumultuous  rabble,  some  scoffing,  some  mock- 
ing, others  seeking  to  betray  him,  others  prepared  to  kill 
him,  all  hostile  to  him,  those  words  of  comfort  and  of  peace 
that  must  have  indicated  to  all  that  heard  them  the  presence, 
not  of  man,  but  of  the  mighty  God:  "If  any  man  thirst,"  — 
thirst  for  any  one  great  truth,  for  satisfaction  in  any  one 
gi'eat  doctrine,  for  rest  to  his  conscience,  for  peace  to  his 
heart,  for  wisdom  to  his  intellect,  for  an  enjoyment  for  the 
present,  —  if  any  man  thirst  for  any  of  these  things,  let  him 
come  not  to  the  priest,  not  to  the  synagogue,  not  to  the 
Church,  not  to  the  Apostles,  but  to  Me. 

"  He  that  believeth  on  me,  as  the  Scripture  hath  said,  out 
of  his  belly  shall  flow  fountains  of  living  water."  And  the 
"  living  water,"  that  he  here  esjjecially  speaks  of,  he  says,  is 
the  Holy  Ghost.  And  it  adds,  "  For  the  Holy  Ghost  was 
not  yet  given,  because  that  Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified." 
The  Spirit  was  always  in  the  Church — individuals  were 
always  regenerated ;  but  the  great  prophecy  of  Joel  was  not 
yet  fulfilled  —  the  pouring  out  of  the  Spirit  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost  being  contingent  "^n  the  resurrection  and  ascension 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  crowd  was  again  agitated 
with  different  conjectures  about  his  character;  the  officers 
that  came  to  seize  him  were  struck  dumb  —  the  Pharisees 
anathematized  the  people  ;  at  all  hazards  they  determined 
to  destroy  him.  An  incident  occurs,  which  shows  that  the 
least  light  will  shine  to  the  perfect  day.  "  Nicodemus  saith 
unto  them  ;  "  and  it  is  added  within  a  parenthesis,  "  he  that 
came  to  Jesus  by  night,  being  one  of  them."  He  turns  up 
again  at  the  death  of  our  Blessed  Lord  ;  and  this  shows  that 
the  first  lesson  that  he  learned  in  the  3d  chapter  of  this  Gos- 


JOHN    VII.  101 

pel,  when  lie  came  to  Jesus  an  anxious  inquirer,  had  not 
forsaken  Ills  memory,  or  passed  through  his  heai't  without 
leaving  an  impression  :  he  uttered  a  sentiment  that  was  as 
just  as  it  was  good  —  "Doth  our  law  judge  any  man  before 
it  liear  him,  and  know  what  he  doetli  ?  "  —  all  the  thanks 
that  he  got  for  the  utterance  of  an  aphorism  that  ought  to 
have  commended  itself  to  the  consciences  he  addressed  was, 
"  Art  thou  also  of  Galilee  ?  Search,  and  look  :  for  out  of 
Galilee  ai'Lseth  no  prophet ; "  supposing  that  Christ  was  a 
Galilean. 

9* 


CHAPTER  Vn.  40,  43. 

DISPUTES  ABOUT  THE  MESSIAH. —  HIS  BIRTHPLACE. CONTROVERST. 

PROPHECIES  OF  THE  3IESSIAH. TYPES  OF  MESSIAH. —  MIRACLES 

OF  JESUS. HIS    LESSONS. HIS   MORALITY. HIS  ANSWERS. HIS 

LIFE. HIS   DEATH. 

First  of  all  we  find  in  the  passage  specially  selected 
from  the  chapter  we  have  been  considering,  the  strongest 
evidence  of  the  wavering  and  fluctuating  character  of  mere 
popular  impressions.  Some  of  the  crowd  that  witnessed 
the  great  miracles  that  Jesus  did,  said,  "  Of  a  truth  this  is 
the  prophet "  predicted  by  ancient  prophets  to  precede  the 
advent  of  the  Messiah.  But  others  said,  and  pei'haps  neither 
knowing  well  what  they  said,  "  This  is  the  Messiah,"  the 
Anointed  One  ;  while  others  again  objected  to  this  last  con- 
clusion, in  itself  so  true,  "  Shall  Christ  come  out  of  Gal- 
ilee ?  "  clearly  remembering  in  Scripture  that  he  was  to  be 
born  in  Bethlehem ;  but  either  wilfully  or  accidently  ignorant 
of  the  fact  that  Jesus  in  all  respects  responded  to  the  Scrip- 
ture prophecy,  and  was  not  as  they  imagined  born  in  Galilee. 
How  strange  that  the  same  beautiful  sight  should  make  so 
conflicting  impressions  on  the  great  crowd  that  were  as- 
sembled to  witness  it.  Why  was  it  so  ?  Just  for  the  same 
reason  that  the  same  text  makes  different  impressions  on 
different  minds  that  read  it.  The  fault  was  not  the  dimness 
of  the  light,  but  the  depth  and  number  of  the  prejudices  of 
them  that  looked  at  it.  The  reason  why  different  interpre- 
tations are  given  by  different  individuals  of  the  very  same 
text  in  Scripture,  is  not  that  the  text  is  obscure,  but  that  our 
(102) 


JOHN  vir.  103 

minds  are  clouded  by  prejudice,  our  hearts  warped  by  pas- 
sion, and  we  drag  the  Scripture  in  the  direction  of  our 
wishes,  instead  of  subduing  our  wishes  to  the  decision  of 
God's  holy  Word.  Some  thought  that  he  was  Elijah  the 
prophet.  All  expected  him  to  precede  the  Messiah.  They 
could  suppose  that  this  wondrous  person,  this  inexplicable 
preacher,  this  remarkable  performer  of  remarkable  deeds, 
was  the  prophet  that  should  precede  the  Messiah ;  but  hav- 
ing a  notion  carefully  instilled  in  their  minds  by  them  that 
sat  in  Moses'  seat,  that  the  Messiah  was  not  to  be  a  suiTerer, 
but  an  illustrious  conqueror,  they  could  not  bring  themselves 
to  the  humbling  conviction,  that  the  Man  of  Sorrows,  ac- 
quainted with  grief,  was  that  predicted  Messiah,  who  was  to 
shine  before  his  ancients  gloriously,  to  reign  from  sea  to  sea, 
and  from  the  river  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  The  reason  of 
this  was,  there  was  no  conquering  presence  in  his  march, 
there  was  no  sign  of  an  illustrious  personage ;  he  had  none 
of  the  evidences  of  a  mighty  prince,  nor  did  God  promise 
that  he  would  be  so.  They  did  not  understand  that  there 
must  be  the  inner  conquest  over  sin  by  suffering,  before 
there  could  be  the  outer  conquest  over  a  world  that  was 
defiled  by  it.  They  could  not  imderstand  that  they  were 
the  slaves  of  any  one  but  Cajsar,  or  that  they  needed  a  free- 
dom that  Coesar's  sceptre  could  not  bestow,  or  Caesar's  power, 
when  enlisted  against  it,  prevail  to  take  away.  The  fact  is, 
they  looked  at  one  side  of  the  picture ;  they  were  right  in 
their  expectation  of  a  triumphant  Messiah,  but  they  were 
quite  wrong  in  looking  at  the  promise  of  his  triumph  and 
shutting  their  eyes  to  the  obvious  predictions  of  his  sorrow, 
suffering,  and  death.  All  the  prophets  proclaimed  a  Con- 
queror that  is  to  be,  but  it  was  conquest  through  suffering ; 
it  was  a  crown  of  glory  preceded  by  a  wreath  of  thorns  ;  it 
was  a  tlirone  of  majesty  reached  by  a  ci'oss.  It  was  too 
humbling  a  thought  that  the  Messiah  should  die ;  they  re- 
jected it  because  they  did  not  like  it ;  and  as  he  did  not 


104  SCllirTUHF-    KKADIXOS. 

answer  to  tlieir  idea  of  a  Messiali  to  conquer  and  to  reign, 
they  said,  "  This  is  not  the  Christ ;  he  deceiveth  the  people  ; 
he  is  not  the  Messiah." 

You  will  notice  in  the  next  place  an  instance  of  the  strange 
mistakes  that  a  crowd  commits.  They  said,  what  they  sup- 
posed upset  all  his  pretensions,  he  came  out  of  Galilee. 
Now,  they  said,  Galilee  is  not  to  be  the  birthplace  of  the 
Messiah  ;  for  the  prophet  Micali  says,  "  But  thou,  Bethle- 
hem Ephratah,  though  thou  be  little  among  the  thousands 
of  Judah,  yet  out  of  thee  shall  he  come  forth  unto  me  that 
is  to  be  ruler  in  Israel ;  whose  goings  forth  have  been  from 
of  old."  They  quoted  Scripture  rightly,  but  they  assumed 
that  to  be  a  fact  in  the  history  of  Jesus  which  was  not  so. 
Their  premises  were  right,  the  Messiah  is  come  from  Beth- 
lehem ;  their  assertion  was  wrong,  or  their  information  was 
incorrect,  that  Jesus  was  born  in  Galilee ;  and  on  these 
wrong  premises  they  constructed  the  disastrous  conclusion, 
that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  could  not  be  the  Messiah.  "  And 
there  was,"  we  are  told  in  conclusion,  "  a  division  among 
the  people."  The  Prince  of  Peace  the  cause  of  division ! 
He  that  came  to  consolidate  the  joy,  the  hopes,  the  interests 
of  humanity,  starts  a  controversy  that  ended  in  his  crucifix- 
ion and  his  death.  Why  this  controversy  ?  Because  men 
with  the  Scriptures  in  their  hands  read  them  in  the  light  of 
tradition,  and  people  gave  credence  to  the  priest,  instead  of 
opening  the  Scriptures  and  judging  for  themselves.  And 
|hus  he  that  came  as  the  Prince  of  Peace  created  only  di- 
vision ;  his  own  prophecy  was  fulfilled  wherever  he  appeared, 
"  I  came  not  to  send  peace  on  the  earth,  but  a  sword."  And 
yet  I  venture  to  say  noAV,  these  discussions,  undesirable  as 
they  are,  are  far  better  and  bigger  with  promise  than  the 
apathy  that  very  frequently  and  extensively  prevails.  Dis- 
cussion, however  angry,  may  end  in  truth ;  indifference, 
never.  Better  the  controversy  that  stirs  the  passions,  than 
the  dead  and  stagnant  calm  of  a  mind  without  inquiry,  and 


JOHN    VII.  105 

a  heart  without  real  peace.  The  wisdom  that  is  from  above 
is  first  pure,  then  it  is  peaceable.  The  greatest  storm  often 
precedes  the  most  histing  calm.  The  age  of  inquiry  is 
always  the  mother  of  an  age  of  tlie  most  enlightened  and 
lasting  quiet ;  and  the  quiet  that  controversy  breaks  is  worth 
parting  with,  for  the  sake  of  the  peace  to  which  controversy 
leads.  Far  better,  therefore,  that  we  sliould  be  men  earnestly 
discussing  something  about  religion,  than  caring  for  none  of 
tliesc  things.  With  all  the  sins  and  faults  of  what  is  called 
Tractarianism  that  has  infected  a  portion  of  the  Protestant 
Church,  it  is  better  than  the  dead,  stagnant  sea  that  pre- 
ceded it.  Far  better  have  men  discussing  the  color  of  the 
robes  they  are  to  wear,  than  hunting  foxes,  or  playing  at 
cards  and  gambling.  And  surely  this  earnestness,  even  if 
that  earnestness  be  wrongly  directed,  is  prefei'able  to  the 
dead  apathy  which  regards  all  colors  as  equal,  all  concerns 
as  equally  insignificant,  and  time  and  eternity  not  worthy  of 
a  thought  in  comparison  with  the  amusements  of  an  hour, 
or  the  passions  of  a  day. 

"We  have  seen,  then,  the  tumultuous  disputes  that  pre- 
vailed in  the  crowd ;  we  have  seen  the  conflicting  conclu- 
sions to  which  in  succession  they  came;  we  have  heard, 
however,  in  the  midst  of  all,  a  few  —  the  select  few  it  may 
be,  but  still  a  few,  —  who  concluded  in  language  of  sober- 
ness and  truth,  "  This  is  the  Christ."  Let  us  ask  ourselves, 
and  let  me  endeavor  to  show  you  very  briefly,  treading 
upon  ground  that  has  been  frecjuently  trodden,  how  much 
there  is  in  Scripture,  and  how  much  those  Scriptures  in  the 
days  of  our  Lord  ought  to  have  been  then  sufficient,  to  prove 
that  Jesus  is  what  he  professed  to  be  —  the  Christ  of 
God,  the  Messiah  of  the  nations,  the  Light  to  lighten  the 
Gentiles  and  the  glory  of  his  people  Israel.  So  plain  does 
it  seem  to  me,  that  if  Jesus  of  Nazareth  be  not  the  Christ, 
the  Old  Testament  Scripture  is  a  perfect  riddle. 

But  the  coincidence  between  the  Messiah  as  sketched  by 


106  SCRIPTURE   READINGS. 

the  prophets,  and  the  Messiah  as  embodied  on  the  streets  of 
Palestine,  is  so  striking,  that  it  is  impossible  to  escape  the 
conclusion,  that  the  prophets  sketched  from  a  living  original ; 
and  that  the  original  took  the  place  of  the  copy  when  Jesus 
taught  and  did  his  mu-acles  in  Jerusalem  and  before  all  the 
people. 

First,  if  we  appeal  to  ancient  prophecy,  "  The  woman's 
seed  shall  bruise  the  serpent's  head "  — "  Born  of  Mary, 
of  the  seed  of  David."  "  The  sceptre  shall  not  depart 
from  Judah,  nor  a  lawgiver  from  between  his  feet"  — 
that  is,  from  before  him  —  "  till  the  Shiloh  "  —  that  is,  the 
Messiah  —  "  shall  come."  The  Sceptre  departed  from  Ju- 
dah, the  sovereignty  from  the  tribes,  when  Christ  came. 
Isaiah  speaks  in  most  express  terms,  "  Unto  us  a  child  is 
born,  unto  us  a  son  is  given  "  —  birth,  relationship.  And 
what  shall  be  his  name  ?  "  For  his  name  "  —  "  his  name," 
in  Scripture,  means,  "  he  shall  be "  — "  he  shall  be  the 
Wonderful,  the  Counsellor,  the  Mighty  God,  the  Father  of 
the  age  to  come,  the  Prince  of  Peace."  We  read  in  one 
passage  of  Isaiah,  "  He  shall  reign  over  all  the  earth  ; "  we 
read  in  another  prophet,  "  The  ships  of  Tarshish  and  the 
isles  shall  bring  their  presents  unto  him."  We  read  in 
another,  "  Of  his  kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end  on  the 
throne  of  David."  We  read  in  another  prophet,  he  is  a 
man  of  sorrows,  acquainted  with  gi'ief,  stricken,  bruised, 
wounded.  Now  I  do  not  say  it  is  impossible  (I  mean,  for 
argument's  sake),  that  some  one  may  not  come  to  answer 
to  such  prophecies ;  but  I  do  say,  that  Christ  who  has 
come  responds  letter  for  letter,  touch  for  touch,  line  for  line, 
to  them  all  most  emphatically.  The  portrait  of  the  Messiah 
in  the  prophets  was  inexplicable  till  Christ  came.  One 
prophet  says,  he  is  God  ;  another  prophet  says,  he  is  man ; 
one  says,  he  shall  live  for  ever ;  another  says,  he  shall  die. 
One  says,  he  shall  sit  upon  his  throne  a  king ;  another  says, 
he  ^hall  be  wounded,  stricken,  smitten,  afflicted.     Now,  how 


JOHN    VII.  107 

can  I  conceive  that  possible  in  any  future  character  that  can 
step  upon  the  stage  ?  And  yet  the  impossibility  of  our  con- 
jecture is  translated  into  actual  fact,  when  Jesus  comes,  a 
God,  that  walks  upon  the  waves,  that  speaks  to  the  winds 
and  they  obey ;  that  wakens  the  silent  dead,  that  cures  in- 
veterate disease,  that  restores  sight  to  the  blind,  and  gives 
token  that  he  is  God.  And  yet  on  the  other  hand  he 
sleeps,  he  is  hungry,  he  is  weary,  he  is  wayworn,  he  is 
betrayed  by  a  disciple,  he  is  buffeted  and  smitten,  and  op- 
pressed, and  crucified.  All  the  evidences  of  a  God ;  all 
the  traces  of  a  man ;  all  the  majesty  of  the  one  ;  all  the 
misery  and  the  sufferings  of  the  other.  Truly  Isaiah,  Mala- 
chi,  Moses,  Elijah,  all  the  prophets,  seem  to  me  to  gather 
round  the  Cross ;  and  when  Christ,  in  mingled  agony  and 
ti'iumph,  exclaims,  "  It  is  finished,"  they  give  up  their  mes- 
sages, and  universally  pi'onounce  the  everlasting  verdict, 
"  Truly  this  is  the  Son  of  God,  this  is  the  Son  of  David  ;  this 
is  he  of  whom  we  and  all  the  prophets  wrote." 

Again,  we  gather  that  Christ  is  what  some  of  the  crowd 
concluded  him  to  be  from  the  ancient  types.  What  is  a 
type  now  ?  It  is  a  likeness,  an  engraving  on  clay  or  on 
metal  of  an  object  that  has  been  impressed  upon  it ;  a  piece 
of  engi'aving  on  brass  or  on  steel  placed  upon  clay,  or  gutta 
percha,  or  wax,  or  any  other  substance  capable  of  receiving 
an  impression.  Now,  if  you  take  the  tyjies  that  seem  to  be 
the  impressions  of  a  great  living  original,  and  bring  them 
all,  varied  in  kind,  in  time,  in  circumstances,  in  nature,  to 
the  Cross  of  Christ,  to  the  person  of  Jesus,  you  see  at  once 
that  it  is  impossible  to  escape  the  conviction,  that  they  all 
relate  to  Him  who  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God.  The  rock 
rent  in  the  desert  by  the  rod  of  Moses,  from  which  the 
streams  gushed  forth,  how  like  him  of  whom  it  is  written, 
"  That  rock  was  Christ ; "  "If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come 
unto  me  and  drink."  The  manna  that  descended  from  the 
skies  and  fed  the  hungry,  how  like  Him  who  says,  "  I  am 


108  SCRirXURE    READINGS. 

the  living  bread  that  cometh  clo^^^l  from  Heaven  ;  whoso- 
ever eateth  of  the  bread  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  never 
hunger."  The  brass  serpent  raised  upon  the  pole,  for  the 
dying  Israelite  to  look  at  it  and  instantly  to  have  bodily 
health,  how  like  Him  who  said,  "  As  Moses  lifted  up  the 
serpent  in  the  wilderness,  so  must  the  Son  of  man  be  lifted 
up,  that  whosoever  looketh  unto  him  or  believeth  on  him 
may  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  The  cities  of 
refuge  into  Avhich  the  criminal  manslayer  might  flee,  and 
find  a  shelter  till  he  appeared  before  the  tribunal  of  his 
country,  how  like  Him  of  whom  it  is  written,  that  "  by  two 
immutable  things  wherein  it  is  impossible  for  God  to  lie,  W6 
might  have  a  strong  consolation,  who  have  fled  for  refuge, 
to  lay  hold  upon  the  hope  set  befoi-e  us."  Take  any  one  of 
these  types  ;  the  sacrifice  on  the  altar,  the  altar  in  the  tem- 
ple, the  priest  oiliciating  by  it,  the  high-priest  in  the  holy  of 
holies  !  all  are  separate  from  each  other,  you  cannot  weld 
them  into  one  mass,  and  see  in  them  when  confounded 
together  any  thing  like  unity  of  object,  or  purpose,  or  har- 
mony. But  when  you  bring  them  to  Clu'ist,  you  see  that 
they  so  fit  him  as  the  most  intricate  key  does  the  most  intri- 
cate ward ;  that  you  cannot  but  conclude,  that  either  he  was 
made  for  the  type,  or,  what  is  the  feasible  and  probable 
thing,  that  the  types  were  instituted  and  made  for  him.  I 
ask,  therefore,  any  man  to  compare  the  actions  in  the  New 
Testament  with  the  predictions  of  the  prophets,  or  with  the 
impressions  struck  upon  different  objects  as  typical  of  him 
in  the  ancient  economy,  and  to  say  if  there  be  not  a  perfect 
unity,  a  harmony  and  an  adaptation  that  indicate  design, 
and  that  design  completely  fulfilled  when  Jesus  comes  into 
the  world  our  Saviour  and  our  Lord.  If  you  were  to  select 
one  of  Bramah's  or  Chubb's  locks,  or  the  lock  of  the  yet 
more  celebrated  locksmith  of  America  ;  and  if  you  were  to 
pick  up  a  key  that,  when  applied  to  it,  intricate  and  per- 
plexed as  its  wards  and  its  machinery  are,  were  exactly  to 


JOHN    VII.  109 

• 

fit  it,  your  conclusion  must  be  that  the  key  was  made  for  the 
lock,  and  the  lock  adapted  to  the  key.  AVhy  should  we  not 
apply  the  same  logical  common  sense  to  a  grander  and  no- 
bler problem  ?  AVhen  we  compare  the  types  of  the  ancient 
economy,  the  prophecies  of  the  inspired  prophets,  wilJi  Christ 
when  he  comes  into  the  world,  the  adaptation  is  so  perfect, 
even  in  the  most  intricate,  miimte,  and  elaborate  features,  that 
it  seems  to  me  common  sense  cannot  escape  the  conviction, 
that  either  the  Old  Testament  was  written  after  Christ,  which 
history  irresistibly  disproves,  or  that  it  was  prewritten  with  a 
purpose  to  foreshadow  Christ,  which  itself  incessantly  and  fre- 
quently affirms.  Or  suppose,  —  to  take  another  illustration, 
—  suppose  that  a  beautiful  figure,  a  statue,  is  made  of  marble, 
or  a  cast,  if  you  like,  of  plaster  of  Paris  ;  and  suppose  that 
one  person  in  this  country  made  a  finger,  another  person  in 
Paris  made  the  arms,  another  pei-son  in  Germany  made  the 
feet,  another  person  in  Italy  shaped  another  part  of  the 
body  ;  and  suppose  that  all  these  parties,  having  acciden- 
tally, as  the  world  would  say,  made  the  different  fragments 
of  a  human  body,  in  different  ages,  under  different  regimes, 
in  different  countries,  in  different  circumstances,  should  all 
meet  together  one  day,  and  it  should  be  found  that  all  the 
fragments  when  put  together  constitute  in  all  its  unap- 
proachable perfection  the  statue  of  the  celebrated  Apollo 
Belvidere,  what  would  your  conclusion,  what  would  your 
inference  be  ?  That  a  great  presiding  architect  or  sculptor, 
who  outlived  all  ages,  and  was  present  in  all  countries,  gave 
inspiration  to  every  sculptor's  mind,  direction  to  every  sculp- 
tor's chisel,  and  inspired  them  to  construct  each  part  with 
the  distinct  and  definite  design  that  it  should  be  one  grand 
and  living  original.  Now  you  find  in  this  blessed  book  that 
Isaiah  describes  one  feature,  Jeremiah  another,  Moses  a 
third,  Micah  a  fourth,  Malachi  a  fifth,  David  a  sixth  ;  men 
living  in  different  ages,  under  different  circumstances,  with 
totally  different  tastes  ;  and  when  they  all  come  together  to 
10 


110  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

the  Cross  of  Christ,  each  part  fits  the  other,  and  combined 
together  they  constitute  the  brightness  of  the  Fatlier's  glory 
and  the  express  image  of  his  person.  What  is  the  infer- 
ence ?  This  is  the  Messiah  of  whom  the  prophets  wrote ; 
thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God.  To  whom 
can  we  come  but  unto  thee  ?  Thou  hast  the  Avords  of 
eternal  life. 

I  might  also  allude  to  another  remarkable  proof,  a  type 
in  one  respect  indeed,  but  totally  different  from  the  rest ; 
namely,  the  sacrifices  of  the  ancient  Levitical  economy.  If 
you  read  Leviticus,  you  will  see  there  that  the  Jewish  temple 
was,  if  viewed  irrespective  of  a  grand  original  that  was  to 
come  in  the  fulness  of  the  time,  a  sort  of  slaughter-house. 
What  could  have  been  more  painful  —  I  would  say  revei'- 
ently,  if  looking  at  it  without  referi'ing  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment, more  disgusting  —  than  the  ceaseless  slaughter  of 
innocent  lambs,  the  daily  pouring  out  of  their  blood  into 
basins  and  around  the  altar  ?  What  can  explain  this  ? 
Why  the  necessity  for  this,  except  it  was  God's  design  to 
teach  the  great  lesson,  that  without  shedding  of  blood  there 
could  be  no  remission ;  and  to  point  forward  the  nation's 
hope  and  the  nation's  heart  to  him  who  should  come  in  the 
fulness  of  the  time.  There  is  no  apology  for  Levi  except 
Christ ;  there  is  no  justification  of  Leviticus  except  in  the 
Gospel  of  Christ.  Take  away  the  New  Testament  as  the 
complement  of  the  Old,  and  one  half  of  the  Old  might  be 
consigned  to  the  flames,  and  the  world  would  not  be 
the  loser  by  it.  But  look  at  the  Old  in  the  beautiful 
light  of  the  New ;  bring  Moses,  that  ancient  servant, 
into  the  presence  of  Jesus,  that  rejected  Lord ;  and  the 
face  that  shone  with  celestial  glory  on  the  Mount  will 
shine  mth  a  richer  splendor  on  the  Mount  of  Transfigura- 
tion ;  and  the  Old  Testament,  instead  of  being  an  unsatis- 
factory, painful,  and  repulsive  compilation,  will  be  seen  to  be 
a  grand  discipline,  a  holy  preparation,  a  voice  ever  sound- 


r  JOHN   VII.  Ill 

ing  in  the  desert,  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  that  taketh 
away  the  sins  of  the  world." 

Thus,  by  an  appeal  to  all  that  is  ancient,  and  by  a  con- 
trast of  what  that  ancient  is  with  Christ  the  Saviour,  we  can 
come  to  the  conclusion  of  the  few,  that  this  is  the  Christ,  the 
Son  of  God,  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 

If,  again,  we  turn  to  the  miracles  that  Jesus  did,  and  next, 
to  the  lessons  that  Jesus  taught,  we  shall  be  constrained  to 
arrive  at  the  very  same  conclusion.  Take  the  miracles  of 
Christ :  he  healed  the  sick,  he  opened  the  eyes  of  the  blind, 
he  restored  the  withered  limbs  ;  and  mark  you,  not  by  a 
process  which  a  physician  could  employ,  but  by  a  woi-d 
which  a  God  alone  could  dare  to  utter.  He  raised  the  slum- 
bering dead,  the  waves  lay  still  the  instant  that  his  holy  feet 
touched  them,  the  wild  winds  ceased  the  moment  that  he 
spoke  to  them.  These  are  facts  more  sure  than  that  Alex- 
ander the  Great  lived,  or  that  Cajsar  gained  his  victories,  or 
that  Napoleon  fled  from  the  snows  of  Russia,  or  that  the 
French  were  conquered  at  Waterloo.  I  say,  these  miracles 
done  by  Christ  are  the  most  authentic  facts  in  Christendom : 
60  much  so,  that  if  you  cannot  believe  them  on  the  strength 
of  the  testimony  adduced  for  them,  you  are  bound  not  to  be- 
lieve any  witness  in  a  witness  box,  or  any  chapter  in  the 
history  of  any  historian  who  has  recorded  the  annals  of  the 
past.  And  mind  you,  the  evidence  that  Christ  did  miracles 
is  as  satisfactory  to  my  mind  as  the  sight  of  Christ  actually 
doing  them.  The  sight  of  a  miracle  done  may  be  more  im- 
pressive, but  the  convincing  proof  of  a  miracle  that  was 
done  must  be  equally  conclusive.  As  far  as  the  credential 
of  a  truth  is  concerned,  it  matters  little  whether  I  see  a 
miracle  myself  or  be  satisfied,  on  competent  authority  and 
testimony,  that  a  miracle  was  done.  Now  what  were  the 
miracles  of  Jesus  ?  Not  mere  freaks  of  power,  but  fraught 
■prith  inexhaustible  beneficence.  I  think  the  most  trium- 
..pjiant  proof  that  the  miracles  that  Christ  did  were  totally 


112  SCRIPTrRE    RKADIXGS.  • 

different  from  every  tiling  that  lias  pretended  to  the  name, 
is  just  a  compari:<on  of  them  with  all  other  supposed  mira- 
cles performed  by  monks  and  priests  in  the  history  of  mediae- 
val Eui'ope.  You  will  find,  if  you  read  the  bull  of  canoni- 
zation of  a  Romish  saint,  or  the  documents  adduced  in  order 
to  guarantee  or  to.  secure  his  canonization,  that  he  blazed 
with  miracles,  that,  in  fact,  he  radiated  miracles  on  all  sides ; 
he  could  not  move  but,  like  an  electrical  jar,  he  illuminated 
the  night,  he  could  not  speak  but  miracles  were  d(jne  ;  in 
short,  he  was  a  sort  of  fire-prodigy,  a  sort  of  walking,  start- 
ling, blazing  phenomenon  ;  something  so  absurd,  so  anile,  so 
extravagant,  that,  in  order  to  make  the  reason  good,  you  can 
see  that  the  clever  monks  outwitted  themselves,  and  proved 
and  established  too  much.  But  if  you  read  the  miracles 
that  Jesus  did,  you  find  he  never  did  a  miracle  unless  there 
was  an  occasion  to  require  it.  And  when  he  wrought  a 
miracle,  what  was  it  ?  It  was  giving  a  dead  son  to  a  weep- 
ing mother,  bringing  a  dead  brother  to  the  home  of  sorrowing 
sisters,  restoring  sight  to  a  blind  man,  hearing  to  a  deaf  man, 
strength  to  a  withered  limb.  Every  miracle  he  did  was  as 
I  remarkable  for  the  beneficence  it  embosomed  as  for  the 
1  power  by  which  it  was  characterized  and  marked.  The 
miracles  of  Christ  were  acts  of  omnipotence,  full  of  benefi- 
cence, holding  forth  grand  truths  for  the  study,  the  adoption 
and  acceptance  of  mankind.  And  if  I  see  God's  omnipo- 
tent arm  stretched  through  the  cloud  in  order  to  hold  out  a 
lamp  for  my  feet,  I  have  evidence  that  that  lamp  is  a  heav- 
enly one,  by  the  veiy  fact  that  an  omnipotent  arm  holds  it 
out  for  my  acceptance  and  for  my  guidance.  Nothing  there- 
fore can  be  more  conclusive  than  that  the  miracles  that 
Jesus  did  were  the  credentials  of  his  mission,  authenticating 
at  once  his  origin,  liis  character,  his  object,  and  his  aim. 
I  And  there  was  this  distinction  ;  if  you  watch  an  apostle 
\  doing  a  miracle,  —  and  they  did  miracles,  —  and  compare 
:  his  doing  it  with  Christ's  doing  one,  you  will  see  there  not 


JOHN  VII.  113 

comparison,  but  contrast.  In  every  instance,  Christ  says, 
"  I  say  unto  thee,  come  forth,"  "  arise,"  or  "  be  healed." 
But  wlien  an  apostle  does  a  miracle,  "  In  the  name  of  Jesus, 
rise  up  and  walk ; "  "  by  the  autliority  of  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth "  so  and  so.  In  other  words,  Christ  did  miracles  in 
virtue  of  an  original  power ;  an  apostle  did  his  miracles 
from  a  derived  and  borrowed  power  :  the  former  were  the 
miracles  of  a  God,  the  latter  the  ministry  of  his  servants, 
acting  in  his  name  and  by  his  authority.  If,  then,  Jesus 
wrought  the  miracles  predicated  of  him,  and  not  only  did 
the  miracles  predicated,  but  did  those  wondrous,  beneficent, 
and  stupendous  deeds  that  indicated  a  messenger  from 
heaven,  we  are  constrained  to  conclude,  that  lie  was  what 
the  most  enlightened  of  the  crowd  accepted  him  to  be,  that 
Christ  who  should  come  into  the  world,  and  that  no  man  ever 
did  greater  miracles  than  these. 

Take,  in  the  next  place,  the  lessons  that  he  taught,  and 
the  very  same  conclusion  will  be  reached.  I  can  conceive 
nothing  so  exquisitely  beautiful  as  the  parables,  that  he 
made  the  cups  to  contain  his  precious  doctrines.  Take  the  j 
parable  of  the  prodigal  son,  of  the  lost  sheep,  —  or  the  par- 
able of  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus.  Can  you  conceive  any 
thing  more  exquisitely  simple,  more  touchingly  beautiful,  or 
in  its  lesson,  the  lesson  that  it  taught,  any  thing  more  precious 
and  important  ?  There  is  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus  a  sim-  j 
plicity  so  transparent  that  a  child  can  understand  it,  and  yet  I 
a  depth  so  profound  that  the  wisest  and  the  most  accom- 
plished scholars  have  never  yet  exhausted  it.  I  cannot 
conceive  a  finer  composition  in  the  Avorld  than  the  simple, 
severe  diction  that  Jesus  used,  and  the  sublime  and  noble 
truths  of  which  that  diction  was  the  vehicle.  Wherever 
there  is  the  highest  genius  you  will  always  find  simplicity ; 
the  simplest  words  charged  and  made  instinct  with  the 
grandest  truths.  Take  the  great  poet  Shakspeare ;  speak- 
ing of  hun  simply  as  a  poet,  his  language  is  more  like,  in 

10* 


114  SCRirXURK    READINGS. 

its  structure,  the  language  of  our  noble  translation  of  the 
Bible,  than  the  language  of  any  writer  or  any  poet  in  the 
world.  But  simple,  severe  as  Shakspeare's  language  is, 
how  rich,  how  magnificent  the  thoughts  of  which  it  is  the 
vehicle.  So  if  we  take  the  teaching  of  Jesus ;  any  one 
single  chapter,  —  the  fifth  chapter  of  St.  Matthew  —  what 
lesson,  what  purity,  what  perfect  morality !  And  mind  you, 
it  appears  to  us  simple  enough  ;  it  appears  to  us  so  reasona- 
ble, that  we  wonder  anybody  could  have  possibly  been  igno- 
rant of  it ;  it  seems  to  be  the  simplest  and  easiest  discoverable 
thing  in  the  world.  But  I  need  not  tell  you,  that  all  great 
discoveries  always  look  the  most  simple  when  they  are 
made.  So  much  so,  that  you  say,  "  I  wonder  how  men  did 
not  discover  it  before."  The  great  law  of  gravitation  in  the 
days  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton  was  not  known  till  he  first  dis- 
covered it ;  but  now  that  we  know  it,  it  seems  such  a  simple 
law,  that  we  are  amazed  that  the  woi'ld  waited  so  long,  and 
never  happened  to  stumble  on  the  discovery  of  it.  So  the 
^  morality  of  the  New  Testament  appears  to  us  to  be  so 
j  natural,  that  we  are  amazed  that  the  preacher  should  quote 
I  it  as  an  evidence  that  Christ  was  God.  But  the  way  to 
I  know  what  it  was,  is  to  read  the  morality  of  Eome  or  of 
Greece,  or  of  the  Scribes  and  the  Pharisees  ;  and  when  you 
have  done  so,  read  the  morality  of  Jesus,  and  you  will  find 
it  is  not  comparison,  but  absolute  contrast;  and  that  nothing 
jbut  a  heavenly  teacher,  to  say  nothing  more,  could  have 
[taught  a  morality  so  simple,  so  pure,  so  definite,  so  applica- 
ble to  every  age  and  phasis  of  social  life,  till  at  last  we  can 
I  predict  with  absolute  certainty  that  the  beatitudes  of 
Matthew  will  survive  the  pyramids  of  Phai-aoh  and  of  all 
the  kings  of  Egypt. 

I     When  Jesus  was  asked  a  question,  watch  the  wisdomi  with 

j  which  he  spake  on  one  occasion  ;  the  propriety  with  which 

he  answered  on  a  second  ;  —  never  a  word  too  much,  never 

I  a  sentence  too  little ;  his  very  silence   often  his  most  sig- 


JOHN  VII.  115 

nificant  teaching ;  and  never  opening  his  lips  except  to  force 
upon  the  listening  and  reluctant  hearts,  "  Never  man  spake 
like  this  man." 

Notice,  as  another  proof  of  his  Messiahship,  the  life  that 
he  hved.  Now,  what  a  life  the  life  of  Jesus  was ;  clearly 
not  the  product  of  the  age,  but  something  altogether  distinct 
from,  and  contrary  to,  the  age.  The  life  of  Jesus  was  not  a 
growth  of  the  earth,  but  an  inspiration  from  heaven.  It  is 
impossible  to  conclude  that  Christ  copied  any  living  model, 
or  drew  the  maxims  that  guided  him  from  any  earthly 
source ;  or  to  come  to  any  other  than  the  old  and  true  con- 
clusion, that  he  was  what  he  professed  to  be  —  the  bright- 
ness of  the  Father's  gloi*y,  and  the  express  image  of  his 
person.  The  spotlessness  of  his  walk,  the  unstained  purity 
of  his  character  — ■  a  biography  not  stained  by  a  crime,  not 
tainted  by  a  spot  —  not  even  obscured  by  a  single  indis- 
cretion ;  whence  was  this  character,  and  what  made  it  ? 
How  can  you  account  for  it,  except  on  the  hypothesis  that 
he  was  what  he  professed  to  be  ?  Satan  held  inquisition  on  i 
him,  and  could  find  nothing  in  him ;  his  bosom  friend  that  / 
betrayed  liim  was  constrained  to  own  he  had  betrayed  in-  | 
nocent  blood  ;  Pilate  that  condemned  him  found  no  fault  in 
him,  and  his  wife  only  saw  an  innocent  man.  Here  was 
one,  then,  admitted  by  friend  and  foe,  by  the  nearest  and 
the  most  remote,  by  his  companion  in  his  travels,  and  by  the 
crowned  pi'ince  upon  his  throne,  to  be  spotless  and  blame- 
less.    How  was  this  ?     "What  was  he  ? 

And  as  no  man  lived  like  this  man,  let  me  add,  no  man 
died  like  this  man.  What  calmness  in  his  death  !  What 
patient  quiescence  in  all  the  injurious  treatment  he  received  ! 
What  yearning  compassion  upon  others,  what  insensibility 
to  the  sorrows,  the  pangs,  the  agonies  preparing  for  himself! 
What  mingled  elements  of  greatness  and  of  unearthly  glory 
— "  To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me,  in  Paradise ; "  what 
terrible  evidence  of  pain  — "  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast 
thou  forsaken  me  ?  " 


116  scRiPTurac  readings. 

How  is  it  tlmt  this  innocent  Being  was  a  sufferer  —  that 
the  only  innocent  was  the  greatest  sufferer  ?  that  God's 
law,  that  perfect  holiness  was  perfect  happiness,  was  broken 
in  the  case  of  his  own  dear  Son  ?  The  only  explanation 
of  it  is,  he  died  not  a  martyr,  but  a  victim ;  not  an  ex- 
ample, but  a  sacrifice.  And  as  never  man  spake  like  this 
man,  so  never  man  lived  like  this  man,  and  so  never  man 
died  like  this  man. 

Again,  his  resurrection  from  the  dead,  the  apostle  says, 
preaches  him  to  be  the  Son  of  God  Avith  power.  The  giv- 
ing of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  Day  of  Pentecost  was  the 
triumphant  proof  that  he  was  risen.  He  says  to  the  apos- 
tles, "  Tarry  at  Jerusalem  till  ye  be  endued  with  power 
from  on  high."  If  the  Holy  Spirit  had  not  descended,  then 
the  evidence  would  have  been  ii'resistible  evidence  that 
Christ  was  not  the  Messiah.  See  next  the  progress  of  the 
Gospel.  During  the  first  century  Christianity  made  greater 
progress  than  it  did  for  any  three  centuries  that  succeeded. 
It  made  converts  in  Caesar's  household  ;  it  christianized  the 
shops,  and  the  markets,  and  the  forum  of  Rome ;  it  found 
trophies  of  its  power  in  imperial  armies  ;  it  convinced  with 
few  words,  it  conquered  without  force,  and  became  no 
longer  the  religion  of  the  despised  and  crucified  Nazarene  ; 
it  trod  down  the  prejudices,  overcame  the  passions,  broke 
through  the  hostility  of  man,  till  the  sign  of  the  Cross  was 
emblazoned  on  the  Imperial  Labarum ;  and  Constantine 
fought  under  Christ  as  the  Great  Captain  of  his  salvation. 

But  our  best  proof  that  Christ  was  the  Messiah  is  our 
personal  experience  of  what  he  is.  What  prejudices  in 
your  minds  has  he  overthrown,  what  evil  appetites  in  your 
heart  has  he  melted  by  his  power  ?  Has  he  not  healed  your 
poignant  sorrow  ?  has  he  not  extracted  many  a  barbed 
arrow  ?  has  he  not  sweetened  many  a  bitter  affliction  ? 
has  he  not  subdued  hard  hearts  ?  has  he  not  regen- 
erated wicked  ones  ?  has  he  not  lightened  your  heaviest 


JOHN  vir.  117 

loads  ?  Have  you  not  gone  to  liiiu  in  i)rayer  on  the  suppo- 
sition that  he  Hves,  and  risen  from  prayer  with  the  con- 
scious experience  and  delighted  demonstration  that  he  is  ? 
And  are  you  not  persuaded,  from  your  own  personal  inti- 
macy with  him,  that  he  is  none  other  than  the  Son  of  God, 
the  Saviour  of  the  world  ?  And  in  the  next  place,  what 
has  been  the  effect  of  the  progress  of  Christianity  among  the 
nations  ?  Those  hospitals  raised  for  the  poor,  those  asy- 
lums for  the  aged,  those  refuges  for  the  destitute  that  dot 
our  native  land  as* with  bright  and  inextinguishable  stars,- 
are  all  the  creations  of  Christianity.  There  was  not  such  a 
thing  in  heathendom,  nor  in  savage  lands,  nor  anywhere, 
except  where  the  Gospel  has  left  the  traces  of  its  power  and 
taught  its  beneficent  and  its  noble  lessons.  You  may  say  of 
Christianity,  if  you  wish  to  see  the  monuments  and  proofs 
of  its  inspiration  and  its  truth,  what  is  written  of  Sir  Chris- 
topher Wren  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral, 

"  Si  monumentum  quseris,  circumspice." 

If  you  want  to  see  a  proof  of  its  beneficence,  of  its  truth 
and  its  power,  look  around  you  and  see  the  monuments  it 
has  raised. 

And  lastly,  if  we  have  found  Him  precious  to  ourselves, 
the  least  that  we  owe  him  is  to  tell  them  that  do  not  know 
that  he  is  so.  We  have  been  great  receivers,  let  us  be  great 
givers.  Much  we  have  received,  much  we  are  answerable 
for.  Let  it  be  our  delight,  not  simply  our  stern  duty,  to 
make  his  ways  known  upon  earth,  and  his  saving  health 
among  all  nations. 

May  the  Lord  bless  his  Word,  and  to  his  name  be  praise. 
Amen. 


Note.  —  The  Lord  seems  here  to  aUucIe  to  the  custom  which  pre- 
vailed during  the  seven  daj's  of  tlie  feast,  of  a  priest  bringing  water 
in  a  golden  vessel  from  the  pool  of  Siloam,  with  a  jubilant  procession 


118  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

to  the  temple,  standing  on  the  altar,  and  pouring  it  out  there,  together 
with  wine,  while  meantime  the  Hallel  (Ps.  cxiii.  —  cxviii.)  was  sung. 
This  practice  was  by  some  supposed — as  the  dwelling  in  tabernacles 
represented  their  life  in  the  desert  of  old  —  to  refer  to  the  striking  of 
the  rock  by  Moses  ;  by  others,  to  the  rain,  for  which  they  then  prayed, 
for  the  seed  of  the  ensuing  year;  by  the  older  rabbis,  (Maimonides, 
cited  by  Sticr,  iv.  395,)  to  Is.  xii.  3,  and  the  effusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  the  days  of  the  Messiah. 

But  it  was  universally  agreed  (with  the  single  exception  of  the  tes- 
timony of  R.  Juda  Hakkadosh,  quoted  in  the  tract  Succa,  which  itself 
distinctly  asserts  the  contrary),  that  on  the  eighth  day  this  ceremony 
did  not  take  place.  Now  out  of  this  difSculty-I  would  exti"act  what 
I  believe  to  be  the  right  interpretation.  It  was  the  eighth  day,  and  the 
pouring  of  water  did  not  take  place.  But  is  therefore  (as  Liicke  will 
have  it)  all  allusion  to  the  ceremony  excluded  ?  I  think  not ;  nay,  I 
believe  it  is  the  more  natural.  For  seven  days  the  ceremony  had  been 
performed  and  the  Hallel  sung.  On  the  eighth  day  the  Hallel  was 
sung,  but  the  outpouring  of  the  water  did  not  take  place,  "  deside- 
ravenint  aliquid."  Then  Jesus  stood  and  cried,  etc.  "Was  not  this 
the  most  natural  time  1  Was  it  not  probable  that  he  would  have  said 
it  at  such  a  time,  rather  even  than  while  the  ceremony  was  going  on  1 
—  Alford. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

MODE    OF     CONVEYING     TRUTH.  —  WOMAN    TAKEN     IN    SIN. — WIS- 
DOM   OF   JESUS. 

It  is  very  important  to  notice  the  great  practical  good 
of  such  discussions  as  those  contained  in  this  chapter,  both 
in  regard  to  the  freshness  with  which  they  come  before  our 
minds,  and  the  clearness  with  which  truth  is  taught  and 
reiterated.  If  the  wliole  of  the  truths  contained  in  this 
chapter  had  been  put  in  the  form  of  an  essay,  or  a  creed,  or 
a  series  of  articles,  they  would  have  been  like  flowers  com- 
pressed between  the  leaves  of  a  book,  retaining,  it  may  be, 
something  of  their  original  color,  but  without  fragrance, 
^\^thout  life  ;  in  short,  without  what  is  their  greatest  beauty. 
But  here  you  have  the  flowers  living,  fresh,  and  every  truth 
brought  before  you  so  clearly  that  you  read  it  with  all  the 
interest  of  a  hearer,  and  with  all  the  sympathy  of  a  witness 
present  at  a  discussion  between  Him  that  spake  as  man 
never  spake,  and  them  that  objected  as  none  should  ever 
have  objected.  This  chapter  is  full  of  these  discussions. 
Our  blessed  Redeemer  presents  himself  here  as  the  great 
Christian  controversialist ;  and  in  those  that  were  gathered 
round  him  we  see  objectors  and  disputants,  not  willing  to  be 
convinced  of  the  truth  because  it  rebuked  their  sins,  and 
only  ingenious  in  finding  subterfuges  under  which  to  escajic 
those  thoughts  that  kindled  disquiet  and  conviction  of  con- 
science within. 

We  read  that  a  woman  taken  in  adultery  was  brought  be- 
fore Jesus  by  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  not  because  they 
hated  the  sin  and  wanted  its  signal  and  just  retribution  ;  but 

(119) 


120  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

because  they  thought  that,  just  like  the  instances  of  doing 
something  on  the  Sabbath  day,  or  of  the  duty  of  paying  trib- 
ute to  Ca2sar,  they  might  iind  in  it  an  admirable  opportunity - 
for  entangling  ^  or  ensnaring  or  involving  Jesus.  They 
brought  her  to  him,  and  said,  "  Moses  in  the  law  commanded 
us  that  such  should  be  stoned :  but  what  sayest  thou  ? " 
They  said  so,  "  tempting  hira."  How  temj^ting  him  ? 
Tempting  him  to  sit  upon  the  judgment-seat,  or  the  tribunal 
of  law,  which  was  the  function  of  a  public  magistrate ;  and 
to  pronounce  a  sentence  to  be  followed  by  the  effects  of  that 
sentence.  Now  if  he  had  done  so,  instantly  Cassar  would 
have  come  down  upon  him,  and  said,  "  You,  a  stranger,  as- 
sume the  office  of  a  magistrate !  You  are  going  out  of  your 
own  province,  and  entering  on  one  in  which  you  have  no 
jurisdiction  or  right."  Then,  on  the  other  hand,  if  he  had 
said,  "  It  is  not  sin,"  which  he  never  did  say,  and  could  not 
say,  of  course  they  would  at  once  have  had  a  pretext  that 
this  is  not  the  Messiah.  If  he  had  passed  judgment,  they 
would  have  said,  "  This  man  steps  into  Caesar's  place  ; "  if  he 
had  pronounced  approbation,  "  This  man  violates  the  express 
law  of  God."  They  thought  here  were  two  horns  of  a  di- 
lemma, and  upon  one  of  the  two  they  must  fix  Him  who  here, 
as  on  other  occasions,  spake  as  never  man  spake.  Our 
blessed  Lord,  with  a  wisdom  that,  I  think,  cannot  be  ac- 
counted for  except  on  the  supposition  that  it  was  what  we 
know  —  divine  —  turned  the  whole  thing  against  themselves ; 
and  they  that  digged  the  pit  for  him  were  cast  into  the  pit 
that  they  dug.  ■  For  instance,  after  they  said  so,  he  ^\Tote 
with  his  finger  upon  the  ground  ;  silence  and  quiet.  It  is 
best  in  difficult  circumstances  to  be  slow  to  answer ;  although 
He,  of  infinite  wisdom,  needed  not  to  reflect;  but  he  was  a 
model,  and  a  precedent  for  us,  and  the  first  answer  is  not 
always  the  best.  I  regret  that  our  translators  have  added 
at  the  end  of  the  sixth  verse  what  is  not  in  the  original,  and 
which  really  is  very  bad,  "  as  though  he  heard  them  not." 


JOHN  VIII.  121 

Now  that  Avoiild  convey  that  our  blessed  Redeemer  pre- 
tended not  to  hear  them ;  but  there  was  no  such  pretence, 
and  therefore  in  tlie  original  Greek  the  words,  "  as  though 
he  heard  them  not,"  are  not  found.  I  need  not,  I  dare  say, 
remind  you  that  wlierever  you  find  in  tlie  Bible  words  in 
italics,  you  must  always  infer  that  those  words  are  not  in  the 
original,  but  are  supplied  by  the  translators  to  fill  up  what 
they  think  the  meaning  ;  but  in  this  instance  they  are  sadly 
mistaken.  However,  such  is  their  honesty,  that  wherever 
their  own  filling  up  is,  there  you  have  that  filling  up  in  dis- 
tinct type,  that  there  may  be  no  mistake  about  it. 

After  this,  "  he  lifted  up  himself,  and  said  unto  them,  He 
that  is  without  sin  "  —  not,  I  think,  this,  the  woman's  speci- 
fied sin,  but  he  that  is  without  sin  of  some  sort,  or  of 
some  dye  or  degree ;  he  that  is  innocent,  and  is  conscious 
he  deserves  himself  no  retribution  —  "let  him  throw  the 
first  stone."  Now  this  was  not  pronouncing  sentence, 
and  bidding  them  execute  it  upon  the  woman  brought 
before  him ;  it  was  saying,  "  Very  well,  that  is  your  case. 
I  do  not  dispute  what  Moses  said  ;  I  am  not  here  to  destroy 
the  law,  but  to  fullil  it ;  and  as  you  have  found  the  criminal, 
as  you  have  quoted  the  law,  and  as  you  are  the  proper  ex- 
ecutioners of 'the  law,  I  say  nothing  except  this,  that  if  any 
of  you  are  conscious  that  you  are  innocent  of  this  and  of 
eveiy  other  sin,  then  let  that  individual  throw  the  first  stone." 
This  struck  their  guilty  consciences  like  a  barbed  arrow,  and 
it  rankled  there.  They  could  not  answer  him ;  they  were 
convicted  each  one  in  his  own  conscience,  and  they  went  out, 
beginning  at  the  eldest,  who  reflected  first  and  deepest,  to 
the  youngest,  and  left  Jesus  and  the  woman  alone.  What  a 
magnificent  answer  to  a  carping  question ;  what  a  trium- 
phant disposal ;  and  how  utterly  impossible  to  find  in  any 
tongue  wisdom  so  opportune,  so  rich  in  mercy,  so  clear,  so 
pertinent,  so  fitted  to  do  good  to  them  that  cavilled,  as  well 
as  to  convey  lessons  to  them  that  read  the  story  of  it !     When 

11 


122  SCRIPTURE    KliADINGS. 

he  found  himself  alone  he  lifted  himself  up,  and  said,  ''  Wo- 
man " —  a  respectful  phrase;  and  here  is  a  lesson  for  us. 
It  is  the  same  word  that  Jesus  addressed  to  Marj,  —  "  Wo- 
man, what  have  I  to  do  with  thee  ?  "  So  here,  ''  Woman." 
Sin  is  the  misfortune  of  the  sinner;  it  is  God's  part  to  judge, 
it  is  ours  to  pity.  Even  in  its  ruins  we  should  respect  and 
reverence  humanity.  You  do  not  make  a  sinner  repent 
more  deeply,  that  you  denounce,  and  scorn,  and  despise  him  ; 
your  respect,  your  tender  sympathy,  will  produce  a  deeper 
impression  than  the  most  withering  and  contemptuous 
"  Stand  aside,  for  I  am  holier  than  thou."  Jesus  therefore 
says  to  her,  so  mildly,  and  yet  so  truly, ''  Woman,  where  are 
tliose  thine  accusers  ?  hath  no  man  condemned  thee  ?  And 
she  said,"  —  to  him  that  knew  her  heart  better  than  she 
knew  it  herself,  —  "  No  man.  Lord.  And  Jesus  said  unto 
her.  Neither  do  I  condemn  thee ; "  not,  I  do  not  condemn 
your  sins  ;  not,  I  deny  that  you  have  committed  sin,  for  the 
very  words  of  Jesus  are,  "  Go  and  sin  no  more ; "  because  it 
was  sin,  and  heinous  sin ;  but  he  says,  "  I  do  not  condemn 
you ;  the  Son  of  man  is  come  not  to  condemn  the  world, 
but  that  the  world  through  him  may  be  saved."  "  I  am  not 
here,"  as  if  he  had  said,  "  to  exercise  the  function  of  a  judge, 
but  to  show  forth  the  mercies  of  a  Saviour,  therefore  neither 
do  I  condemn  thee ;  go,  and  sin  no  more ;  showing  thy  re- 
pentance," which  he  could  see  when  we  cannot ;  "  and  show 
that  thy  repentance  is  genuine  by  the  purity  and  consistency 
of  the  rest  of  thy  life  hereafter."  Is  not  this  the  finger  of 
God?  Is  not  this  story  a  real  one,  a  Divine  one?  Can  we 
doubt  its  origin,  can  we  fail  to  be  profited  by  its  beautiful  m- 
cidents  ? 

Then,  after  this,  Jesus  preached  to  the  Pharisees :  "  I  am 
the  light  of  the  world."  You  say,  why  introduce  this  thought  ? 
The  reason  is  plain.  On  the  last  day  of  the  feast  of  taber- 
nacles, the  eighth  day,  as  it  is  called,  they  had  splendid  lights, 
all  was    gaiety,  pomp,  and   splendor;  and   probably  Jesus, 


jonx  viii.  123 

looking  at  the  lights  in  the  treasury,  had  suggested  to  liim 
the  maxim  or  the  thought,  "  I  am  the  light  of  the  world." 
Those  expressions,  "  If"  I  bear  record  of  myself  my  record  is 
not  true,"  are  understood  only  by  reference  to  the  law.  It 
does  not  mean,  "  If  I  bear  record  of  myself  my  record  is  not 
true  ;  "  but  it  means,  "  If  I  bear  record  of  myself,  my  record 
is  not  accepted  in  a  court  of  justice  as  at  all  evidence."  It 
is  the  ipse  dixit,  as  it  were ;  it  is  not  testimony  that  either 
vindicates  me  or  establishes  my  claims.  And,  therefore,  if  I 
have  no  one  upon  earth  to  bear  witness  to  me,  I  have  One 
whose  testimony  you  ought  to  defer  to  —  my  Father,  who 
you  say  is  also  your  Father  in  heaven.  Then  Jesus  said, 
"  I  go  my  way,  and  ye  shall  seek  me,  and  shall  die  in  your 
sins."  What  an  awful  prophecy  was  that,  literally  and  ter- 
ribly fulfilled.  Then  said  the  Jews,  evidently  in  sarcasm, 
"Will  he  kill  himself?  because  he  saith.  Whither  I  go  ye 
cannot  come."  "  He  said  unto  them,"  not  bitterly,  not  in  re- 
tort, but  quietly,  "  Ye  are  from  beneath  ;  I  am  from  above  : 
ye  are  of  this  world  ;  I  am  not  of  this  world.  I  said  there- 
fore unto  you,  that  ye  shall  die  in  your  sins :  for  if  ye  be- 
lieve not  that  I  am  he"  —  Now,  you  observe  the  word  ?ie 
again,  in  the  24th  verse,  is  not  in  the  original ;  it  is  in  italics ; 
and,  therefore,  it  ought  to  be,  "  For  if  ye  believe  not  that  I 
Am  "  —  that,  is,  if  you  refuse  to  recognize  me  as  Jehovah, 
the  supreme  God,  God  over  all,  "  ye  shall  die  in  your  sins." 
What  did  God  say  to  Moses  ?  "  Tell  them  that  I  Am  hath 
sent  thee."  Tliat  is  the  most  wonderful  revelation  of  God 
that  I  know.  You  remember  an  ancient  heathen  philosopher 
was  asked  to  define  God.  He  was  allowed  a  day;  at  the 
close  of  it  he  said  he  had  studied  all  day,  and  he  was  no 
nearer  the  definition  than  when  he  began.  He  was  allowed 
another  day,  and  another ;  and  it  was  only  to  say  that  he 
could  give  no  definition  of  God.  But  that  one  definition  of 
Deity  contained  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  repeated  in  the 
New,  "  I  Am  "  —  all  past,  all  present,  all  future,  luminous, 


124  SCPaPTURE    READINGS. 

transparent  tome  —  vJiat  a  magnificent  revelation  of  God 
is  that !  And  the  reason  of  this  "  I  Am  "  is,  that  with  God 
there  is  no  time.  We  speak  in  our  common  language  of 
what  is  past,  what  is  present,  and  what  is  future ;  but  that  is 
merely  trying  to  clothe  an  infinite  idea  in  human  speech. 
With  God  there  is  no  past,  and  there  is  no  future ;  it  is  an 
everlasting,  enveloping,  transparent, luminous noiv  —  "I  Am." 
I  may  just  add  too  here  what  has  been  often  given  as  an 
illustration  of  the  Trinity.  I  do  not  say  that  it  is  a  proof  of 
it,  but  it  is  one  of  those  analogies  that  one  cannot  but  be 
struck  with.  There  are  only,  in  all  language,  and  in  all 
conceivable  thought,  three  persons;  there  is  not  a  fourth. 
There  is  "  I  am,"  "  Thou  art,"  "  He  is ; "  and  when  you  have 
said  that,  you  then  must  repeat  it,  only  making  it  plural, 
"  We  are,"  "  You  are,"  "  They  are  ; "  the  same  tiling.  So 
that  there  are  only  three  persons,  three  conceivable  things ; 
and  /involves  thou  or  thee  —  and  thou  involves  him  or  he  — 
and  so  vice  versa  —  as  if  there  were  dim  shadows  pi'ojected 
into  human  speech  and  human  thought  of  the  great  truth, 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  one  God. 

Again,  he  deals  with  an  objection  that  they  urged  against 
his  claims,  and  tells  them  that  when  they  have  lifted  up  — 
that  is,  crucified  —  the  Son  of  God,  then  they  will  know 
who  he  is.  He  then  addressed  the  Jews  that  believed  on 
him,  "  If  ye  continue  in  my  word,  then  are  ye  my  disciples 
indeed ;  and  ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall 
make  you  free."  The  Jews  instantly  cavilled  at  that  ex- 
pression, and  they  said,  "  We  be  Abraham's  seed,  and  were 
never  in  bondage  to  any  man."  Now,  what  an  awful  lie 
was  stated  in  these  words !  They  were  in  bondage  to  Pha- 
raoh in  Egypt,  they  were  in  bondage  in  Babylon,  they  were 
at  that  very  moment  in  bondage  to  the  Roman  C:T3sar,  for 
Judea  had  become  a  province,  and  their  public  officers  were 
the  appointment  of  Ctesar,  and  they  were  really  in  bondage 
at  that  moment;  but  yet,  in  order  to  injure  him,  they  said 


JOHN  VIII.  125 

what  tliey  knew  to  be  absolutely  false.  Jesus,  however, 
does  not  reply,  as  he  might  have  done,  satirically  ;  but  he 
carries  the  argument  to  the  heart,  and  he  says,  "  Whosoever 
committeth  sin  is  the  slave  of  sin,"  for  that  is  the  meaning 
of  it ;  "  and  the  slave  abidcth  not  in  the  house  for  ever :  but 
the  Son  abideth  evei-,"  having  right,  privilege,  authority. 
"  If  the  Son  therefore  shall  make  you  free,  ye  shall  be  free 
indeed."  And  then  he  adds,  "  I  know  that  ye  are  Abra- 
ham's seed" — that  is,  according  to  the  flesh,  literally  — 
there  is  no  doubt  of  that ;  but  you  know  that  you  cannot  be 
Abraham's  true  seed,  for  you  seek  to  kill  me,  and  you  know 
that  Abraham  would  not  do  that.  "They  answered  and 
said  unto  him,  Abraham  is  our  father."  Jesus  saith  unto 
them,  "If  ye  were  Abraham's  childi-en"  —  and  he  ad- 
mitted they  were  according  to  the  flesh  —  "  ye  would  do  the 
works  of  Abraham."  How  frequently  does  Christ  super- 
sede all  lineal  connection  by  moral  and  spiritual !  And  all 
that  he  says  to  the  Jews  as  Abraham's  seed  applies  mos,t 
strictly  to  the  priests  of  Rome,  who  claim  to  be  Peter's 
lineal  successors.  In  all  this  chapter,  if  I  wanted  the  most 
powerful  argument  against  the  pretension  of  the  apostolical 
succession,  even  admitting  that  it  were  strictly  true,  —  and 
it  is  strictly  as  untrue  as  any  one  thing  can  be  —  admitting 
that  it  were  strictly  true,  our  blessed  Lord  says  that  as  the 
Jews,  Abraham's  seed  according  to  the  flesh,  proved  they 
were  not  so,  by  their  wickedness  ;  so  they  who  say  they  are 
the  apostles'  successors  according  to  their  lineage,  prove  they 
are  not  so  by  not  obeying  the  precepts  and  preaching  the 
truths  of  the  apostles.  And,  therefore,  our  Loi-d  teaches  us 
the  thought,  that  spiritual  relation  to  Abraham  was  true 
descent;  and  that  preaching  apostolical  doctrine,  we  may 
view  as  the  just  inference,  is  the  only  true  apostolical  suc- 
cession. They  then  said,  "  We  have  one  Father,  even  God.' 
Jesus  said  unto  them,  "  If  God  were  your  Father,  ye  would 
love  me  ;  for  I  proceeded  forth  and  came  from  God."     He 

11* 


12G  SCnU'TURE    READINGS. 

then  told  them,  "  Ye  are  of  your  father  the  devil ;  he  was  a 
murderer,"  as  in  the  case  of  Cain  and  Ahel,  "  from  the  be- 
ginning." Now,  I  ask  those  who  deny  the  personality  of 
Satan,  with  a  consistency  that  leads  them  to  deny  the  per- 
sonality of  the  Holy  Ghost,  how  it  is  possible  to  gather  from 
this  44th  verse  that  our  Lord  speaks  of  a  figure  of  speech, 
or  of  the  symbol  of  wickedness  ?  Is  not  all  the  language  used 
here  that  which  can  be  predicated  of  a  personal  being?  "  Ye 
are  of  your  father  the  devil ;  he  was  a  murderer  from  the 
beginning,  and  abode  not  in  the  truth,  because  there  is  no 
truth  in  him.  When  he  speaketh  a  lie,  he  speaketh  of  his 
own  :  for  he  is  a  liar,  and  the  fother  of  it."  Now  could  you 
turn  that  into,  "  The  principle  of  evil  was  a  murderer  from 
the  beginning  ;  the  principle  of  evil  abode  not  in  the  truth  ?  " 
Why,  being  the  principle  of  evil,  it  would  be  nonsense 
to  speak  of  its  not  abiding  in*  the  truth.  "  When  the 
principle  of  evil  speaketh  a  lie,  the  princij)le  of  evil 
speaketh  of  his  own ;  for  it  is  a  liar,  and  it  is  the  father 
of  it."  What  nonsense  would  it  make !  and  how  im- 
possible therefore  to  escape  the  conclusion  that  Satan  is  a 
personal  being !  Then  when  Jesus  told  them,  plainly  re- 
ferring to  a  higher  hfe  than  the  life  of  the  body,  "  If  a  man 
keep  my  saying,  he  shall  never  see  death "  the  Jews  con- 
strued all  literally  —  and  they  always  did  so.  When  he 
spoke  of  living  water,  the  woman  saw  nothing  deeper  than 
Jacob's  well ;  when  he  spoke  of  living  bread,  the  Jews  could 
not  understand  how  he  could  give  them  his  own  flesh ;  when 
he  speaks  here  of  never  dying,  they  could  not  conceive  of 
any  life  higher  than  the  life  of  the  human  body ;  and  there- 
fore they  said,  "  Now  we  know  that  thou  hast  a  devil.  Abra- 
ham," the  greatest  of  all,  *'  is  dead,  and  the  prophets ;  and 
what  do  you  mean  by  speaking  of  anybody  not  dying  ?  " 
Jesus  said,  "  If  I  honor  myself,  my  honor  is  nothing  :  it  is 
my  Father  that  honoreth  me ;  of  whom  ye  say,  that  he  is 
your  God."  And  then  he  said  beautifully  and  truly,  "  Your 
father  Abraham  rejoiced  "  —  literally   "  leaped  for  joy  "  — 


jonx  viii.  127 

"  to  sec  mj  clay,  and  he  saw  it."  There  is  only  one  dispute 
about  the  meaning  of  that.  Some  think  that  he  saw  him 
by  the  telescope  of  jDrophecy,  or  by  faith  through  the  vista 
of  two  thousand  years  ;  others  think  that  our  Lord  asserts, 
that  being  in  heaven  a  glorified  spirit,  he  saw  Christ  a  suf- 
ferer and  a  pilgrim  upon  earth,  "  and  he  saw  it,  and  was 
glad."  Then  the  Jews  said,  "  Thou  art  not  yet  fifty  years 
old."  Fifty  years  was  regarded  among  the  Jews  as  the  very 
meridian  of  manhoood,  and  that  after  fifty  years  strength 
began  to  decline.  "  Thou  art  not  yet  fifty  years  old,  and 
hast  thou  seen  Abraham  ? "  How  could  you  know  that 
Abraham  saw  your  day  unless  you  have  seen  Abraham  ? 
and  how  can  you  have  seen  him  ?  He  is  long  ago  dead, 
and  you  ai^e  not  fifty  years  old.  Then  Jesus  said,  in  words 
that  were  either  blasphemy  or  the  declaration  of  what  he 
was  —  the  ever-blessed  ftod  —  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto 
you,  Before  Abraham  was,"  —  not,  mark  you,  "  I  was  ;  " 
but  designedly  and  intentionally,  —  "I  Am  that  I  Am  "  -r- 
the  First  and  the  Last,  the  Beginning  and  the  End  — 
Jehovah. 


Note. — -The  Lord's  challenge  to  them  would  lead  to  a  condemna- 
tion 1)}'  comparison  with  themselves,  if  they  condemned  at  all ;  which 
thej'  had  not  done.  The  words  of  Jesiis  were,  in  fact,  a  far  deeper 
and  more  solemn  testimony  against  the  sin  than  could  be  any  mere 
penal  sentence.  And  in  judging  of  it,  we  must  never  forget  that  He 
who  thus  spake  knew  the  hearts,  and  what  was  the  peculiar  state  of 
this  woman  as  to  penitence.  "We  must  not  apply  in  all  cases  a  sen- 
tence, which  requires  his  divine  knowledge  to  make  it  a  just  one. 

The  first  reference  seems  to  be  to  the  murder  of  Abel  by  Cain.  See 
the  Apostle's  own  comment  on  these  words, —  1  John  iii.  12,  15 
But  this  itself  was  only  a  result  of  the  introduction  of  death  by  sin, 
which  was  the  work  of  the  devil.  Adam  and  Eve  were  the  first  whom 
he  murdered.  But  then,  again,  both  these  were  only  manifestations 
of  the  fact  here  stated  by  Divine  Omniscience  respecting  him,  that  he 


128  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

was  noKTOvia,  urc'  upxvC>  —  the  author  and  bringei'  in  of  that  hate 
which  is  uvOpunoKTovla,  1  John  iii.  15.  The  mention  of  "  murder  "  is 
introduced,  because  the  Jews  went  about  to  kill  Jesus  ;  and  the  typical 
parallel  of  Cain  and  Abel  is  certainly  hinted  at  in  the  words,  "  The 
death  of  the  body  is  not  reckoned  as  death,  any  more  than  the  life  of 
the  body  is  life,"  in  our  Lord's  discourses.  See  chap.  xi.  25,  26,  and 
notes.    Both  words  have  a  deeper  meaning.  —  AJford. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

BLIND     MAN.  QUESTIONS     ABOUT     THE     CAUSE     OF    BLINDNESS. 

AJfSWEK   OP  JESUS.  —  CURE    OF   BLINDNESS. EFFECTS   OF    CURE. 

MISCONSTRUCTIONS   OF   PHARISEES, — OBSTINATE     ENMITY     OP 

PRIESTS. ABLE    REPLIES    OF     BLIND     MAN.  —  SUBSEQUENT     CON- 
VERSION.   GUILT    OF  THE    PHARISEES. 

This  chapter  opens  with  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
miracles,  both  as  an  evidence  of  the  power  and  of  the  benefi- 
cence, recorded  in  the  Gospels.  It  appears  that  a  certam 
man,  who  was  blind  from  his  birth,  sat  by  the  way-side  beg- 
ging ;  and  the  disciples  seeing  the  man,  and  hearing  the  fact 
tliat  he  was  born  blind,  asked  their  Master,  who  alone  was 
able  to  answer  all  the  questions  they  could  put,  however 
difficult  and  perplexing,  "  "Who  did  sin,  this  man  or  his  par- 
ents, that  he  was  born  blind  ?  "  There  was  much  that  was 
true,  and  much  also  that  was  superstitious  in  the  question, 
when  they  a.?ked,  '"  Who  did  sin,  that  he  was  born  blind  ?  " 
They  suggested  their  conviction  of  a  great  truth,  that  sin 
and  suffering  are  intimately  associated.  Wherever  we  see 
suffering,  there  we  see  the  progeny  of  sin.  But  they  erred 
in  supposing  that  in  every  individual  instance  the  greatest 
sufferer  must  be  the  greatest  sinner :  that  was  wrong. 
"  Think  ye  that  those  eighteen  upon  whom  the  tower  in 
Siloam  fell,  were  sinners  above  all  men  ?  I  tcU  you.  Nay  : 
but,  except  ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  likewise  perish."  So 
they  concluded,  because  this  man  was  a  special  sufferer, 
that  he  must  himself,  or  in  his  parents,  have  been  a  great 
and  signal  sinner.  Now  we  arc  not  called  upon  to  judge  in 
individual  instances  because  we  admit  the  universal  propo- 

(129) 


130  SCRIPTURE    READIXGS. 

sition  that  suffering  is  the  child  of  sin.  The  idea  that  his 
parents  sinned,  and  that  he  therefore  was  visited,  was  an 
interpretation,  or  rather  a  comment  upon  the  statement, 
"  visiting  the  sins  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children  ; "  which 
has  been  reversed  in  the  Christian  economy,  at  least  as  ex- 
plained before  Christ  came,  and  is  arrested  as  a  law  as  soon 
as  the  children  refuse  to  walk  in  the  way  of  the  parents. 
Jesus  answered  them  in  the  practical  way  in  which  he  al- 
ways answered  such  curious  questions.  Never  fail  to  notice, 
that  in  the  Bible  there  is  much  to  engage  the  mind,  much  to 
interest  the  heart,  but  nothing  to  gratify  a  mere  curiosity  : 
and  therefore  Jesus  said,  "  Neither  hath  this  man  sinned, 
nor  his  parents  ; "  neither  is  the  cause  :  you  are  not  called 
upon  to  discuss  the  origin  of  it ;  but  the  practical  lesson  that 
is  to  be  deduced  from  his  blindness  is  this,  that  the  works 
of  God  "  should  be  made  manifest  in  him."  Do  not  tx-ace 
such  effects  to  their  causes,  nor  facts  always  to  reasons  ;  but 
see  what  good  can  be  deduced  from  the  most  perplexing  of 
facts  —  glory  to  God,  and  benefit  to  mankind. 

Then  Jesus  told  them  that  as  long  as  he  was  in  the  world 
he  must  work  the  works  of  God  ;  and  when  he  had  spoken 
he  moistened  the  clay,  anointed  the  eyes  of  the  blind  man, 
bade  him  go  and  wash  in  the  pool  of  Siloam.  He  went 
and  washed,  and  saw.  Now  there  Avas  a  process  here. 
Why  a  process  ?  In  one  instance  he  spoke,  and  it  was  done  ; 
in  another  instance,  he  touches  with  his  finger,  and  the  ears 
are  opened.  Why  use  a  process  here  ?  The  reason  of  it 
was,  that  they  might  see  that  the  virtue  that  healed  the  man 
was  not  in  the  means,  because  utterly  inadequate  to  do  it, 
but  in  Him  who  was  pleased  to  use  the  means,  and  make 
them  the  ministry  of  so  great  and  so  precious  a  benefit :  and 
that  the  means  themselves  were  not  regarded  as  at  all  ade- 
quate to  the  cure,  is  obvious  from  the  discussion  in  the  chap- 
ter. The  Pharisees  never  attempted  to  say  there  was  spe- 
cial virtue  in  the  clay,  nor  did   they  venture  to  assert  that 


JOHN    IX.  131 

the  waters  of  Siloam  had  any  healing  virtue ;  they  admit- 
ted that  a  wonderful  deed  was  done,  they  gave  no  solution 
of  the  phenomenon,  they  attributed  it  to  no  intermediate 
agency,  but  they  tried  to  explain  it  away  by  referring  it  to 
God,  beside  and  beyond  and  above  Christ,  and  all  else  that 
might  involve  the  recognition  of  him  as  Lord  and  God. 
When  he  had  thus  healed  him,  "  the  neighbors  therefore  " 

—  how  natural  what  follows !  it  is  evidently  not  an  inven- 
tion ;  it  is  so  natural,  so  precisely  what  might  be  expected 
to  occur,  that  one  while  reading  it  can  almost  picture  the 
crowd,  the  blind  man  with  his  eyes  opened,  the  carping 
Pharisees,  the  wondering  people,  the  self-possessed  and  sub- 
lime Jesus,  the  Lord  and  Giver  of  life,  in  the  midst  of  them ; 

—  "  the  neighbors  therefore,  and  they  which  before  had  seen 
hina  that  he  Avas  blind,  said.  Is  not  this  he  that  sat  and  beg- 
ged ?  "  We  all  know  what  a  prodigious  effect  upon  the  hu- 
man countenance  the  eye  has.  If  you  look  at  a  marble 
statue  you  can  see  a  great  want  —  the  absence  of  the  living 
eye ;  if  you  look  at  a  blind  man,  the  deformity  of  the  face 
from  the  deadness  of  the  eye  is  extreme  ;  and  hence  the 
transition  from  blindness  to  sight  casts  a  sunshine  over  all 
the  face  that  will  make  the  most  intimate  friend  of  the  blind 
man  doubt  if  this  be  the  once  blind  friend  with  whom  he 
walked  and  conversed  before.  So  the  neighbors,  Avhen  they 
saw  the  man  the  subject  of  this  transformation,  said,  "  Is 
this  he  ? "  Some  said,  "  It  is  he ; "  and  others  could  not 
help  saying,  "  It  is  like  him ;  "  but  to  settle  the  whole  dis- 
pute, he  said,  "  There  is  no  doubt  of  it :  I  am  just  that  very 
blind  beggar  that  was  born  blind,  and  I  have  now  got  my 
eyes  opened."  When  they  heard  his  voice  they  were  satis- 
fied that  it  was  himself,  because  they  recognized  in  the  tones 
of  his  voice  the  traces  and  the  evidences  of  his  personal 
identity.  A  person's  voice  is  as  varied  as  the  expressions 
of  his  countenance.  It  is  one  of  the  remarkable  proofs  of 
the  infinite  resources  of  Deity,  that  out  of  a  million  faces  hav- 


132  SCKIPTCRE    READINGS. 

ing  the  same  generic  features,  there  are  not  two  the  fac-simi- 
les  of  each  other ;  and  out  of  a  milHon  voices,  all  speakino- 
precisely  the  same  note,  there  are  not  two  voices  exactly 
alike.  The  infinite  variety  in  the  expression  of  the  human 
face  and  in  the  tones  of  the  human  voice  is  something  per- 
fectly marvellous ;  and  they  recognized  in  this  man,  there- 
fore, by  the  tone  of  his  voice,  the  peculiarity  of  his  accent, 
that  it  was  he,  changed  as  he  was,  who  sat  by  the  way-side 
and  begged.  Then  they  asked  him,  "  How  were  thine  eyes 
opened  ?  "  And  he  answered,  for  he  did  not  yet  know  that 
Jesus  was  the  Christ — "A  man  that  is  called  Jesus"  did 
so  and  so,  "and  I  received  my  sight."  "Then  said  they 
unto  him,  Where  is  he  ?  He  said,  I  know  not."  Then 
they  brought .  him  to  the  Pharisees,  who  were  the  doctors 
of  the  law,  and  who  were  supposed  to  be  able  to  explain  it. 
"  And  it  was  the  sabbath  day  when  Jesus  made  the  clay, 
and  opened  his  eyes."  The  Pharisees  instantly  thought 
they  could  make  it  a  grand  point  against  him  because  he 
had  dared  to  heal  on  the  sabbath  day.  They  said,  "  This 
man  is  not  of  God,  because  he  keepeth  not  the  sabbath  day." 
Now  what  a  monstrous  perversion  of  the  sacred  day,  when 
those  who  were  appointed  to  guard  its  sanctity  regarded  the 
conferring  of  good,  the  bestowal  of  a  blessing,  as  the  dese- 
cration of  a  day  that  was  meant  to  be  a  benefit  and  a  blessing 
to  mankind  !  But  they  were  so  anxious  to  find  an  excuse 
for  rejecting  Jesus,  that  they  were  ready  to  strain  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  law  to  tlie  utmost  in  order  to  prove  to  the 
peo[)le  that  he  broke  the  law,  and  could  not  be  the  Messiah. 
Then  others  said  to  him,  "  Well,  if  it  be  true,  he  did  this 
upon  the  sabbath  day ;  how  can  a  man  that  is  capable  of 
sinning  do  such  a  miracle  as  this  ?  " 

There  was  a  division  among  them.  The  power  that  was 
in  the  miracle,  equalled  by  the  beneficence  that  it  produced, 
was  proof  that  some  one  greater  than  man  was  here ; 
and  if  some   one  greater  than  man,  a  divine  being,   how 


JOHN    IX.  133 

could  he  break  the  sabbath  ?  It  is  far  more  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  you  put  an  interpretation  on  the  sabbath  that 
it  was  not  meant  to  bear,  than  that  a  man  who  could  do  such 
a  stupendous  miracle  was  other  than  a  divine  being  or  a 
messenger  from  God.  They  therefore  appealed  to  the  blind 
man,  "  What  sayest  thou  of  him?"  He  said:  I  have  no 
doubt  of  what  he  is  ;  the  thing  is  so  palpable,  the  change  in 
my  happy  experience  is  so  great  —  "  he  is  a  prophet.  But 
the  Jews  did  not  believe  concerning  him,  that  he  had  been 
blind ; "  they  would  rather  deny  their  senses  than  admit 
that  Jesus  was  the  Son  of  God ;  they  would  rather  contra- 
dict a  palpable  fact  than  accept  him  as  the  Messiah  ;  so 
powerful  is  prejudice,  so  distorting  is  antipathy,  so  fallen 
and  apostate  had  they  become  avIio  sat  in  Moses'  seat  and 
professed  to  be  the  expounders  of  the  law  of  God.  They 
therefore  sent  for  the  parents  of  the  man,  to  put  an  end  to 
this  dispute ;  and  the  first  question  they  put  in  due  legal 
order  was,  "Is  this  your  son?"  They  of  coui'se  said  he 
was.  Then,  Was  he  born  blind  ?  Of  course,  they  said  he 
was.  Then,  thirdly,  "  How  doth  he  now  see  ? "  What 
capital  lawyers !  like  men  expiscating  evidence,  apparently 
only  anxious  to  reach  the  truth  of  the  matter.  His  parents, 
under  a  deep  apprehension  of  consequences,  and  yet  with 
an  uprightness  and  an  honesty  that  were  perfectly  remarka- 
ble in  persons  in  their  circumstances,  said.  This  is  our  son, 
there  is  no  doubt  of  that ;  and  he  was  born  blind,  there  is  no 
doubt  of  that :  but  that  they  might  escape  the  penalty  of 
pubhcly  avowing  their  belief  in  Jesus,  they  said,  "  But  by 
what  means  he  now  seeth,  we  know  not ;  or  who  hath  opened 
his  eyes,  we  know  not :  he  is  of  age  ;  ask  him :  he  shall 
speak  for  himself,"  —  thus  escaping  themselves  from  the 
consequences  of  an  open  declaration  of  what  they  knew  to  be 
true.  "  Then  again  called  they  the  rfian  that  was  blind,  and 
said  unto  him,  Give  God  the  praise  :  we  know  that  this  man 
is  a  sinner;" — that  is  to  say,  "Now  do  not  say  that  this 
•  12 


134  SCKirXURE    READINGS. 

man  gave  you  your  sight ;  God  has  done  it,  the  great  God, 
in  a  vei'y  wonderful  way ;  but  as  to  this  man  having  done  it, 
it  is  all  nonsense;  he  never  did  any  such  thing.  It  is  a 
mere  hallucination  of  your  own  ;  get  rid  of  it.  Praise  God 
for  the  blessing  that  you  have  received ;  but  as  for  this  man, 
we  know  that  he  is  a  sinner,  and  never  wrought  miracles, 
and  is  uttei'ly  incapable  of  doing  so."  The  man,  however, 
had  a  good  deal  of  that  terse  common  sense  which  was  not 
to  be  put  down  by  such  subtle  casuistry :  and  therefore  "  he 
answered  and  said,  Whether  he  be  a  sinner  or  no,  I  know 
not,"  —  that  is  your  business,  as  being  Pharisees, — "one 
thing  I  know,  that,  whereas  I  was  blind,  now  I  see.  Then 
said  they  to  him  again,  "What  did  he  to  thee  ?  "  If  you  will 
persist  in  giving  this  man  the  credit,  let  us  hear  the  process. 
We  think  you  are  deceived,  you  have  made  a  mistake. 
They  were  trying  to  make  the  man  disbelieve  his  own 
senses :  and  a  great  deal  of  subtle  reasoning  may  sometimes 
eradicate  convictions  that  were  originally  deep  and  appar- 
ently unfaltering.  But  they  evidently  had  a  stronger  mind 
to  deal  with  than  they  supposed :  his  blindness  had  made 
vigorous  the  mind  within  in  proportion  as  it  had  withdrawn 
his  attention  from  objects  that  were  without,  and  now,  when 
they  try  to  make  him  disbelieve  the  senses  that  God  had 
given  him,  he  shows  by  the  vigor  and  the  pointedness  with 
which  he  replies,  that  he  was  not  to  be  put  down,  or  forced 
to  deny  facts,  or  to  explain  away  a  palpable  and  undeniable 
experience.  "  He  answered  them  and  said,  I  have  told  you 
already,  and  ye  did  not  hear,"  —  that  is,  you  did  not  believe, 
— "  wherefore  would  you  hear  it  again  ? "  and  he  says  to 
them,  with  consummate  satire,  "  Will  ye  also  be  his  disci- 
ples ? "  as  much  as  to  say,  —  I  am  one,  but  you  seem  so 
anxious  to  get  the  truth  of  the  matter,  that  I  must  infer  you 
are  anxious  to  be  his  disciples.  This  exasperated  them  be- 
yond all  expression.  They  instantly  exclaimed.  We  be  his 
disciples !     "  We  know  that  God  spake  to  Moses :  but  as  for 


joiix  IX.  135 

this"  —  the  word  felloio  is  not  in  the  origunal  —  "but  as  for 
this  person,  we  know  not  from  whence  lie  is ; "  and  there- 
fore do  not  talk  as  if  we,  men  of  learning,  men  of  knowledge, 
were  wishing  to  become  tlie  disciples  of  such  a  pretender  as 
this  :  we  belong  to  Moses,  we  sit  in  Moses'  chair.  The  man 
answered  and  said,  Very  well ;  since  you  have  subjected  me 
to  examination,  let  me  suggest  that  herein  is  a  marvellous 
thing ;  you  say  he  is  a  sinner,  and  yet  he  has  done  a  deed 
that  ought  to  prove  from  whence  he  is ;  he  has  done  what 
none  but  a  God  can  do :  so  great  in  power,  so  rich  in  benefi- 
cence, have  you  any  difficulty  in  believing  that  he  is  from 
God,  who  does  miracles  that  exceed  in  splendor  and  in  power 
the  most  stupendous  miracles  of  Moses  ?  How  can  you, 
learned  men,  doubt  that  such  a  one  is  from  heaven  ?  "  Since 
the  world  began  was  it  not  heard  that  any  man  opened  the 
eyes  of  one  that  was  born  blind."  "  They  answered  and 
said  unto  him,"  gathering  up  their  robes  about  them,  shak- 
ing off  the  dust  from  the  feet,  treating  him  with  contemptu- 
ous derision,  "  Thou  wast  altogether  born  in  sins,  and  dost 
thou  teach  us  ? "  And  they  instantly  cast  him  out  of  tlie 
synagogue.  But,  blessed  thought !  him  that  men  shut  out, 
Jesus  is  rea^^  to  take  in. 

Many  have  been  cast  out  from  the  synagogue  who  have 
never  been  cast  out  by  Christ ;  and  therefore  it  says,  that 
"  Jesus  heard  that  they  had  cast  him  out  of  the  synagogue  ; 
and  when  he  had  found  him,  he  said  unto  him.  Dost  thou 
believe  on  one  higher  than  a  prophet  —  the  Son  of  God  ? 
He  answered  and  said.  Who  is  he,  Lord,  that  I  might  believe 
on  him  ?  "  I  believed  on  a  prophet,  but  I  did  not  know  that 
God  the  Messiah  was  come.  "  Thou  hast  both  seen  him,  and  it 
is  he  that  talketh  with  thee.  And  he  said.  Lord,  I  believe  ! " 
and  recognizing  the  presence  of  the  Lord  of  glory,  he  bowed 
down  and  "  worshipped  him."  Jesus  instantly  added,  "  For 
discrimination "  — for  that  is  the  meaning  of  the  word  —  "I 
am  come  into  this  world,  that  they  who  profess  to  see  whilst 


136  SCRIPTURK    UEADINGS. 

really  they  are  blind  may  not  see ;  and  that  they  who  are 
blind,  and  feel  that  they  are  so,  may  be  translated  into  mar- 
vellous light."  The  Pharisees  that  heard  him  instantly 
called  out,  AYhat !  do  you  mean  to  libel  us  ?  Do  you  slander 
us?  "Are  we  blind  also?  Jesus  said  unto  them,  If  ye 
were  really  blind,  ye  should  have  no  sin : "  that  is,  you 
should  not  be  chargeable  with  your  oflPences,  for  you  would 
not  know  that  there  is  any  guilt;  but  because  you  say  you 
see,  you  admit  that  you  know ;  but  whilst  knowing,  will  not 
accept  me  as  the  only  Redeemer,  your  sin  remaineth  on  you, 
or,  you  shall  be  punished. 


CHAPTER  IX.  25.« 

NATURE.  —  CHKISt's      MIRACLES.  —  REDEMPTION.  —  BLINDNESS    OP 

mind. analogies. opening    the    eves    of    the    mind. 

things  seen  in  a  new  light. the  soul. sin. the  law. 

—  Christ's  work.  —  bible.  —  sanctuary. —  sabbath. 

A  GREAT  practical  truth  in  this  chapter  is  worth  special 
study.  "  One  thing  I  know,  that,  whereas  I  was  blind,  now 
I  see."     John  ix.  25. 

"We  have  seen  that  this  is  the  description  of  a  literal  fact, 
or  of  a  change  passed  upon  the  eyes  of  one  who  is  stated 
in  the  commencement  of  the  chapter  to  have  been  born 
blind.  We  have  seen  in  this  miracle  not  only  the  evidence 
of  power  that  was  omnipotent,  but  the  influence  also  of 
beneficence  that  was  divine.  You  must  often  have  noticed 
in  the  miracles  of  Jesus  not  simply  and  distinctly  absolute 
power,  but  a  conveyance  of  great  beneficence  ;  so  much  so, 
that  one  knows  not  which  most  to  admire,  the  omnipotence 
that  shines  in  the  act,  or  the  benevolence  and  wisdom  that 
act  as  the  cup  of  the  miracle.  You  will  see  too  in  this 
miracle  another  instance  of  the  tendency  of  all  the  miracles 
of  Jesus  ;  namely,  their  restorative  and  redemptive  char- 
acter. Every  miracle  that  Jesus  wrought  was  the  restoration 
of  what  nature  had  become  to  what  nature  once  was,  and 
what  nature  will  one  day  again  be.  We  are  so  accustomed 
to  things  as  they  are,  that  we  say  those  things  are  natural. 
But  the  truth  is,  our  present  state  is  a  most  unnatural  one, 
a  most  abnormal  one,  the  result  of  sin,  and  not  the  creation 
and  production  of  God.  Blindness  was  not  one  of  the  things 
12  *  (137) 


138  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

over  ■u'hich  God  said,  "All  is  very  good;"  illness,  sick- 
ness, pi'emature  death,  old  age,  and  decay,  were  not  among 
the  original  constituent  elements  of  the  world  in  which  we 
live.  These  things  have  crept  in,  the  consequences  of  a 
great  fall,  of  a  terrible  transgression ;  and  you  notice  in  the 
miracles  of  Jesus  instances  of  the  removal  of  these  things, 
the  retuning  of  thd*  sliattered  sti'ings  of  creation's  harp,  and 
the  bringing  forth  from  every  string  sounds  of  its  ancient 
harmony,  earnests  and  preludes  of  that  glorious  state  when 
Paradise  sliall  be  restored,  and  all  that  sin  has  done  shall  be 
swept  away  for  ever  and  for  ever.  But  it  is  not  in  this 
light  that  I  have  looked  at  the  miracle,  nor  is  it  at  the  trium- 
phant evidence  it  presents  that  a  real  miracle  was  wrought. 
Never  was  a  poor  witness  subjected  to  so  sifting  a  cross-ex- 
amination ;  and  never  did  a  witness  come  from  the  witness- 
box  more  triumphantly  vindicating  the  claims  of  Him  who  had 
wrought  the  miracle,  or  the  simplicity,  sincerity,  and  honesty 
of  the  testimony  of  him  who  had  experienced  it.  Let  us  look 
at  his  words,  not  in  their  literal  meaning,  but  in  their  inoral 
meaning,  warranted  as  we  are  by  almost  every  page  of  the 
Scriptures.  Is  there  such  a  thing  as  blindness  of  mind,  darker, 
and  more  to  be  deplored,  than  the  blind  darkness  of  the  body  ? 
Is  the  figure  ever  employed  in  Scripture  to  denote  that  state 
into  which  men  have  been  precipitated  by  sin,  and  out  of  which 
they  are  brought  by  the  mighty  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
of  God  ?  We  have  only  to  refer  to  innumerable  texts  to 
find  that  it  is  so.  "  Their  foolish  hearts  have  been  dark- 
ened : "  —  "  they  were  turned  from  darkness  unto  light  "  — 
"  the  works  of  darkness  "  —  "  the  hidden  things  of  darkness  " 
—  "  he  hath  called  you  out  of  darkness  into  his  marvellous 
light."  The  Pharisees  were  "  blind  leaders  ; "  not  physi- 
cally, but  morally  so.  "  He  that  lacketh  these  things  is 
blind : "  showing  that  this  disease  incident  to  the  body  is  the 
true  characteristic  of  man's  mind.  By  nature,  wherever 
man  is,  there  is  the  mind  darkened ;    and   wherever  man 


JOHN  IX.  139 

feels  his  mind  so  darkened,  there  is  a  call  to  him  to  pray, 
*'  Open  tliou  mine  eyes,  0  Lord,  that  I  may  see  wonderful 
things  out  of  thy  law." 

Now  what  is  the  effect  of  such  darkness  in  the  mind,  or 
of  blindness  of  the  eyes  of  the  understanding  ?  When  a 
man  is  physically  blind  he  cannot  distinguish  the  tints  of  a 
flower  from  the  color  of  the  clay  or  the  soil  in  which  it  gi'ows. 
The  rainbow  to  him  has  no  more  glory  than  the  street  on 
which  he  treads ;  the  starry  sky,  that  splendid  apocalypse, 
has  no  more  solemn  beauty  to  him  than  the  desert  on  which 
he  walks.  And  it  is  very  much  the  same  with  the  man,  the 
eyes  of  whose  understanding  are  closed.  Those  exquisite 
distinctions,  that  are  appreciated  by  the  Christian  man,  are 
to  him  who  is  in  his  natural  state  of  blindness  and  of  dark- 
ness altogether  invisible.  The  beauties  of  holiness  he  can- 
not appreciate  —  the  deformity  of  sin  he  cannot  understand. 
In  the  dark  all  things  look  equal ;  to  the  depraved  mind  all 
the  distinctions  that  make  heaven  differ  from  hell,  the  saint 
appear  distinguished  from  the  sinner,  are  one  vast  and  in- 
distinguishable chaos  in  which  he  can  see  no  beauty,  distinc- 
tion, order,  or  harmony.  In  the  next  place,  wherever  the 
mind  is  thus  darkened,  or  the  eyes  of  the  understanding 
thus  shut,  the  person  who  is  the  subject  of  it  cannot  see  or 
find  out  the  way  to  heaven.  We  are  told  there  is  a  way  to 
heaven,  but  we  must  see  it,  we  must  know  it,  w^e  must  un- 
derstand it,  and  be  satisfied  that  it  is  so.  But  as  long  as  the 
mind  is  blinded  by  unbelief,  so  long  that  Avay  is  rejected. 
Ways  that  seem  to  us  more  plausible  are  accepted  in  its 
stead,  and  we  walk  in  these  in  preference  to  that  which  God 
has  pointed  out.  Again,  the  fruits  of  holiness  are  not  dis- 
tinguishable to  a  person  whose  mind  is  in  this  state  of  dark- 
ness, or  does  not  bring  them  forth.  A  plant  that  grows  in  a 
subterranean  fissure,  far  from  the  light  of  day,  grows  up 
sickly  and  unproductive  of  fruit ;  and  the  man  who  has  not 
the  light  of  the  Son  of  Righteousness  shining  into  his  mind, 


140  SCUIPTURK    HEADINGS. 

brings  forth  none  of  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  which  are  right- 
eousness, and  peace,  and  joy.  His  growth  is  stunted,  his 
progress  is  arrested ;  if  tliere  be  life  at  all  it  is  sickly ;  and 
only  does  he  begin  to  live,  in  the  loftiest  sense  of  that  word, 
when  translated  from  the  darkness  of  sin  into  the  marvellous 
light  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  Jesus. 

Now  if  any  one  reader  or  hearer  has  experienced  that 
change  it  is  the  subject  of  consciousness,  I  can  scarcely 
think  it  possible  for  a  man  to  have  undergone  such  a  change, 
and  not  to  be  aware  of  it.  I  know  there  are  some  Avho  have 
been  sanctified  from  their  birth,  upon  whom  the  light  has 
broken  a  faint,  dim  ray,  and  slowly  expanded  more  and 
more  into  the  perfect  day.  But  wherever  the  change  takes 
place  suddenly,  there  must  surely  be  the  consciousness  of 
that  change.  The  man  whose  history  is  recorded  in  the 
Gospel  said,  "  Whereas  I  was  blind,  now  I  see  :  "  and  if  you 
have  undergone  suddenly,  in  the  providence  of  God,  so  vast 
a  transformation  as  that  from  darkness  to  light,  from  blind- 
ness to  seeing,  from  a  dead  insensibility  to  the  things  of  God, 
to  an  acute  appreciation  of  them  all,  you  must  be  conscious 
of  it,  and  must  be  able  to  say,  "  I  cannot  say  when  the 
change  took  place  ;  I  cannot  exactly  state  how  it  was  ;  but 
this  at  least  I  know,  that  whereas  I  was  once  blind,  now  I 
see,"  And  I  know  no  evidence  equal  to  this.  The  man 
who  is  a  proof  of  Christian  power  by  being  the  subject  of  a 
Christian  transformation,  is  the  noblest  credential  that  Chris- 
tianity can  present.  Argument  may  fail,  facts  may  be  de- 
nied, reasoning  may  be  perverted  or  turned  aside  ;  but  a 
living  monument  of  a  power  unequivocally  divine  is  as 
strong  and  as  decided  an  evidence  that  Christianity  is  true, 
as  if  God  bowed  the  heavens  and  proclaimed  the  fact  among 
mankind.  There  is  a  miracle  still  fresh  and  living  in  every 
section  of  the  church  ;  a  miracle  that  turns  the  heart  of 
stone  into  flesh,  that  opens  the  blind  eyes,  that  revolutionizes 
the  taste,  that  makes  you  know  what  you  could  not  under- 


joiix  IX.  141 

stand,  love  what  you  once  hated,  glory  in  what  you  were 
once  ashamed  of.  That  change  is  so  real,  so  decided,  so 
divine,  that  the  man  who  is  the  subject  o^  it  is  a  living 
witness  that  the  Bible  is  true,  that  Christianity  is  divine, 
and  that  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  is  a  cunningly  devised 
fable. 

Now  when  the  change  I  have  spoken  of  takes  place  there 
are  two  things  that  will  be  presented  in  a  new  light,  and  I 
wish  you  to  test -your  own  position  by  the  different  criteria 
I  endeavor  to  educe.  If  your  mind  has  been  enlightened 
by  celestial  truth  —  if  the  eyes  of  the  understanding  have 
been  opened  —  if  you  are  the  subjects  of  this  beneficent 
and  heavenly  power,  many  truths  that  you  saw  dimly,  or 
saw  not  at  all,  you  will  now  see  clearly,  and  estimate  at  their 
real  and  inherent  value.  For  instance,  the  soul  you  will 
see  in  a  new  light.  Once  you  thought,  and  anxiously  asked, 
"  "What  shall  I  eat,  what  shall  I  drink,  wherewithal  shall  I 
be  clothed  ?  "  but  the  idea  of  food  for  the  soul,  of  a  hope 
for  it  beyond  the  grave,  of  education  of  its  powers  for  a 
destiny  above  the  stars,  never  once  entered  into  your  mind. 
But  since  this  new  light  dawned  upon  your  understanding, 
you  now  see  that  the  body  is  but  the  tent,  the  soul  the  mag- 
nificent inhabitant  within.  You  now  feel  that  the  care  of 
this  life  may  be  duty,  but  that  the  care  of  the  life  to  come 
is  an  absolute  necessity.  You  ask  now  what  you  never 
dreamed  of  asking  before,  "  What  shall  it  profit  me  if  I 
gain  the  whole  world,  and  lose  my  own  soul  ?  "  Why  this 
change  ?  Avhy  is  it  that  once  it  was,  "  Eat,  drink,  and  be 
merry,  for  to-morrow  we  die  ?  "  but  now,  "  What  must  I  do 
to  be  saved  ?  what  shall  become  of  me  beyond  the  grave  ? 
what  ground  have  I  of  an  expectancy  of  glory  ?  what  reason 
have  I  for  believing  that  it  will  be  well  with  me  when  that 
change  comes  to  me  that  comes  to  all,  and  I  shall  appear  — 
I  myself  —  at  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ?  " 

In  the  second  place,  if  you  have  the  eyes  of  your  under- 


142  scrapTURE  readings. 

standing  opened  you  -svill  see  sin  in  a  very  different  light 
from  what  you  saw  it  before.  Once  you  thought  sin  exag- 
gerated by  th^  preacher,  and  portrayed  with  exceeding  hy- 
perboles by  most  passages  of  Scripture :  once  you  thought 
that  a  sin  was  merely  an  excusable  violation  of  conventional 
propriety,  or  a  fair  and  clever  trick  in  trade  which  commer- 
cial morality  could  easily  excuse,  and  triumphant  success 
would  be  sure  to  atone  for.  Now  you  see  sin  as  the  trans- 
gression of  a  holy  law,  and  something  very  different ;  in  that 
monosyllable  you  see  condensed  the  greatest  evil,  in  its  issue 
everlasting  and  inexhaustible  ruin ;  and  from  regarding  it 
lightly,  or,  in  the  language  of  Scripture,  "  making  a  mock  of 
sin,"  you  now  regard  whatever  violates  God's  law,  or  in- 
fringes God's  will,  as  evil,  exceedingly  and  intensely  evil. 
Taking  these  two  things,  then,  the  soul  and  its  futurity,  sin 
and  its  character,  when  your  eyes  have  been  opened,  your 
apprehension  of  these  has  undergone  a  revolution,  and  you 
see  them  set  in  a  light,  and  covered  with  a  brightness  with 
which  you  never  saw  them  before.  And  in  that  altered  view 
you  have  the  triumphant  proof,  "  whereas  I  was  blind,  now 
I  see." 

Take,  in  the  next  place,  the  heart.  How  differently  do 
you  look  at  it  now  from  the  way  in  which  you  looked  at  it 
before !  Once  you  said,  "  Well,  I  have  this  fault,  and  I  have 
that  fault,  and  I  have  been  guilty  of  that  indiscretion,  and  of 
this  impropriety  ;  but  everybody  knows  I  have  a  good  heart, 
everybody  knows  I  am  amiable,  affectionate,  wish  no  man 
ill,  and  wish  everybody,  even  my  greatest  enemy,  all  good ; '' 
and  you  think  that  if  thei-e  be  much  wrong  in  your  past  life, 
there  is  a  background  of  much  excellence  in  your  inner 
heart.  But  the  moment  that  the  light  of  the  Gospel  streams 
into  your  eyes,  and  you  see  that  heart  naked  in  its  undisguised 
and  essential  nature,  in  the  light  of  that  truth  in  which  all 
things  must  one  day  without  exception  ajjpear,  you  come  to 
believe  that  the  Scripture  does  not  exaggerate,  but  rather 


JOHN  IX.  143 

justly  expresses  the  I'eal  condition  of  the  heart,  wlien  it  says 
it  is  "deceitful  above  all  things,  and  desperately  wicked." 
You  believe  there  is  some  truth  in  what  the  Saviour  said, 
"  Out  of  the  heart  proceed  evil  thoughts,  adultery,  murder  ; " 
and  you  see  now  that  your  heart,  instead  of  being  that 
amiable,  unexceptionable  thing  that  you  once  believed  it  to 
be,  has  latent  in  it  —  undeveloped  it  may  be,  but  latent  and 
living  in  it  —  the  seeds  of  all  that  would  rend  the  earth, 
dishonor  God,  and  ruin  the  soul. 

In  the  next  place,  if  this  light  has  shined  into  your  under- 
standing, you  will  see  God's  holy  law  in  a  dilFerent  aspect 
from  that  in  which  you  saw  it  before.  In  your  natural  state 
you  thought  God's  law  very  useless,  and  not  only  useless, 
but  excessively  severe ;  and  you  reasoned  with  yourself 
thus :  —  "  What  a  pity  that  God  should  have  made  a  law  so 
rigid  that  nobody  could  obey  it ;  and  then,  in  order  to  put  it 
right,  gave  an  atonement  so  stupendous  as  the  sacrifice  and 
death  of  Christ  Jesus ; "  and  you  have  wished  that  there 
were  no  law,  just  as  man  has  wished  that  there  were  no  God. 
And  from  thinking  the  law  too  severe,  you  have  come  to 
think,  as  the  very  logical  and  proper  inference  from  it,  that 
God  never  would  inflict  its  extreme  penalties,  or  that  he 
would  at  least  be  far  more  indulgent  than  that  law  reveals 
him  to  be.  But  since  you  have  learned  what  sin  is,  and 
seen  what  the  curse  is,  and  noticed  and  ascertained  that  the 
law  is  the  exponent  of  God's  mind,  is  inseparable  from  God 
as  the  sunbeam  is  from  the  sun,  true  if  God  had  never  said 
it,  because  it  is  only  God's  thought,  God's  will,  God's  mind, 
audible,  engraven,  understood,  imprinted  upon  the  page  ; 
you  come  now  to  see  that  God's  law  is  what  the  apostle  calls 
it,  just  and  good;  it  condemns  you,  but  you  cannot  help  it; 
it  rebukes  you,  but  you  cannot  help  it ;  you  justify  the 
law  as  the  expression  of  what  should  be,  you  only  con- 
demn yourself.  You  therefore  regard  God's  law  no  longer 
as  a  severe  and  rigid  demand  which  humanity  ought  not 


144  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

to  attempt  to  obey  ;  but  as  a  law  so  holy,  so  just,  so  good, 
that  if  all  humanity  should  fail  to  obey  it,  all  humanity  de- 
serves everlasting  destruction  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord. 
Instead  of  arguing  the  infliction  of  penalty  as  impossible,  you 
regard  the  very  certainty  of  its  infliction  as  one  of  the  grounds 
on  which  you  are  led  to  put  your  trust  in  the  Gospel.  If 
God  can  enact  a  law,  attach  to  it  penalties,  but  shrink  from 
inflicting  them,  you  might  justly  enough  infer  that  God  may 
preach  the  Gospel,  promise  blessings,  but  forget  or  shrink  to 
bestow  them.  It  is  the  very  consistency  of  God  in  all  that 
he  says  that  gives  you  confidence  in  him  as  the  Great  Sover- 
eign of  heaven  and  of  earth,  who  changeth  not,  nor  re- 
penteth ;  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever. 

In  the  next  place,  if  your  eyes  have  been  opened,  you 
now  see  as  you  never  saw  before  the  necessity  of  Christ's 
great  work.  When  first  you  heard  of  Christianity  you 
thought  it  was  a  very  great  provision  for  a  very  small  offence  ; 
and  that  God  might  have  struck  out  some  better  plan,  some 
less  painful  one,  than  the  incarnation,  the  sufferings,  and  the 
sacrifice  of  the  Son  of  God.  But  now  you  have  learned 
what  sin  is,  you  have  seen  the  brand  it  has  left  upon  your 
soul ;  you  have  traced  its  evil  and  the  poison  of  its  presence 
from  Paradise  till  now  ;  you  have  seen  how  impotent  you 
are  to  obey  the  law,  how  stained  you  are  by  innumerable 
breaches  of  it ;  and  you  now  see  that  by  deeds  of  the  law  no 
flesh  can  be  justified ;  and  that  unless  there  be  provided 
such  an  atonement  as  that  which  is  proclaimed  in  every  page 
of  the  Gospel,  there  can  only  be  for  you  a  fearful  looking  for 
of  judgment  and  fiery  indignation  from  the  presence  of  God. 

In  the  next  place,  if  your  eyes  be  opened,  and  this  light 
has  shone  into  your  mind,  you  now  see  God's  character  in 
a  very  diflferent  light. 

Once  you  thought  God  was  very  much  like  his  law,  an- 
gry, revengeful,  relentless,  tyrannical ;  you  never  dreamt  of 
his  presence  except  as  repressing  what  you  would  wish  to 


JOHN    IX.  145 

do  ;  you  never  remembered  religion  except  as  a  thing  sepul- 
chral and  full  of  gloom  ;  you  never  thought  of  the  sacrament 
except  as  an  awful  and  an  inapproachable  solemnity.  But 
since  this  light  has  sliined  into  your  understanding,  since 
your  eyes  have  been  opened,  you  have  detected  in  God  not 
the  avenging  tyrant,  but  a  merciful  and  loving  Father  ;  and 
you  have  seen  in  religion,  not  the  rain  and  storm  of  his 
wrath,  but  the  sunshine  and  the  radiance  of  his  love ;  and 
you  behold  in  a  communion  table,  not  a  trap  set  to  catch 
you,  but  the  expression  of  his  love,  the  memorial  of  his  mer- 
cy, the  pledge  to  mankind  that  he  that  died  upon  the  cross 
will  come  again  and  j'eceive  you  to  himself,  that  where  he 
is,  there  you  may  be  also.  I  know  nothing  that  more  dis- 
tinguishes the  natural  man  from  the  Christian  than  the  esti- 
mate that  he  forms  of  God.  I  could  teach  all  London  that 
God  is  a  dreadful  tyrant  waiting  to  damn  them  ;  but  it 
needs  the  grace  of  God  to  teach,  in  contradistinction  to  this, 
that  God  is  a  Father,  preparing  for  his  returning  prodigal, 
not  penalties  of  wrath,  but  a  festival  of  joy,  of  gladness,  and 
of  peace. 

Again,  you  have  learned  since  this  light  shined  into  your 
understanding,  what  is  the  only  way  of  acceptance  before 
God.  In  your  state  of  darkness,  you  could  not  see  it ; 
since  the  light  shined  into  your  mind  you  can  now  see  that 
there  is  but  one  way  that  leads  from  the  depths  of  ruin,  and 
pauses  not  in  its  upward  ascent  till  it  rests  upon  the  very 
throne  of  God.  But  you  have  learned  in  that  light  which 
has  shined  into  your  mind,  that  that  way  is  not  the  way  of 
your  own  doing,  nor  the  way  of  your  own  suffering,  nor  a 
way  that  you  have  cut  out,  or  strike  out,  or  pay  toll  on,  or 
purchase  or  secure  by  any  process,  or  by  any  patronage,  but 
a  way  provided,  perfected,  complete ;  so  broad  that  the 
greatest  sinner  may  walk  in  it,  so  holy  that  the  least  sin 
cannot  be  admitted  in  it,  giving  strength  to  him  that  treads 
it  until  you  walk  and  are  not  faint,  you  run  and  are  not 

13 


146  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

■\veary.  Thus  all  these  blessed  truths  shine  in  a  new  and 
glorious  splendor.  You  see  all  things  in  a  holy  and  beauti- 
ful light.  What  perplexed  you  before  perplexes  you  no 
more  ;  what  was  unintelligible  before  is  intelligible  now ; 
and  the  remaining  truths  that  seem  to  float  far  beyond  the 
distant  horizon,  which  you  cannot  comprehend,  you  are,  sat- 
isfied to  lay  aside,  with  the  blessed  assurance  that  what  you 
know  not  now  you  shall  know  hereafter. 

If  you  have  obtained  this  light —  if  being  once  blind  you 
now  see  —  you  will  admit  what  so  few  are  ready  to  admit, 
that  it  needs,  to  change  that  heart  which  you  have  detected 
in  its  inherent  depravity,  nothing  less  than  the  Holy  Spirit 
of  God.  No  regenerate  man  Avill  believe  in  baptismal  re- 
generation, for  the  simple  reason  that  he  felt  his  heart  before 
too  hard  to  be  softened  by  the  saturation  of  a  little  water, 
and  his  nature  too  depraved  to  be  regenerated  by  a  sacrament, 
even  a  divine  one  ;  that  it  needs  nothing  less,  and  it  can 
need  nothing  more,  than  God  the  Spirit  to  quicken  the  dead, 
to  open  the  blind  eyes,  to  change  the  heart  of  stone  into  the 
heart  of  flesh,  and  to  fit  for  heaven  him  whom  Christ's 
righteousness  has  entitled  to  admission  to  its  unspeakable 
glory.  And  in  the  next  place,  if  you  have  had  your  eyes 
opened,  if  you  now  see,  you  will  regard  the  Bible  in  a  very 
different  light  from  that  in  wdiich  you  regarded  it  before. 
Once  you  looked  upon  the  Bible  as  a  very  dry  book ;  and 
if  a  man  of  a!Sthetic  and  cultivated  taste,  the  best  that 
you  thought  of  it  was,  that  it  has  some  snatches  of  exquisite 
poetry,  some  passages  of  true  eloquence,  many  chapters  of 
real  and  transparent  history ;  but  you  never  thought  of 
going  into  its  holy  places,  of  watching  the  glory  that  burns 
within  ;  of  hearing  not  Paul,  not  Peter,  not  John  ;  but  the 
Lord  of  Paul,  and  Peter,  and  John,  speaking  through  them. 
Now  it  is  to  you  no  more  a  beautiful  tale,  an  interesting  ro- 
mance, stilLless  is  the  reading  of  it  a  penance,  and  the  study 
of  it  a  sacrifice ;  it  is  now  precious   as  gold,  sweeter  than 


joiix  IX.  147 

honey  from  the  l)oney-comb ;  it  is  no  more  a  curious  relic, 
a  decent  article  of  furniture,  an  appropriate  book  for  the 
library,  which  it  would  be  ungenteel  to  be  without;  it  is 
now  a  light  to  your  feet,  and  a  lamp  to  your  path  ;  and  you 
find  no  money  too  much,  no  time  too  great,  tliat  is  spent  in 
mastering  its  truths,  becoming  acquainted  with  its  facts,  and 
learning  its  beautiful  relation  of  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the 
life,  the  soul's  importance,  and  the  path  that  conducts  that 
soul  to  eternal  and  everlasting  joy. 

And  if  once  you  were  blind  and  now  see,  you  will  see 
the  sanctuary  in  a  very  different  light  from  what  you  saw  it 
before.  You  used  to  come  to  church  because  it  was  decent, 
or  because  your  fellow  parishioners  would  brand  you  as  a 
man  not  conforming  to  the  proprieties  of  life ;  but  except  to 
have  your  children  baptized,  and  your  dead  ones  decently 
buried,  and  yourself  to  get  a  character  for  order  and  con- 
sistency, you  rarely  tliought  of  going  to  the  house  of  God  ; 
and  at  best  you  thought  that  once  a  day  was  more  than  God 
might  reasonably  exact,  or  society  might  fairly  expect  you  to 
attempt.  But  now  it  is  altogether  altered;  you  come  to  the 
house  of  God  not  as  a  duty,  but  as  a  privilege  ;  not  as  a 
sacrifice,  but  as  a  pleasure.  You  feel  a  delight  in  its 
praises,  you  feel  profited  by  its  prayers,  instructed  by  its 
sermons,  taught  by  its  lessons ;  and  you  go  down  into  the 
weekdays''  duties  with  a  more  elastic  step,  and  a  more 
bounding  heart,  because  you  have  had  Sabbath  day  refresh- 
ment, and  Sabbath  day  strength.  This  is  a  change  so  real 
that  nothing  can  explain  it,  except  the  shining  into  the  un- 
derstanding of  a  divine  light ;  nay,  so  real  is  it  tliat  you  can 
hear  a  bad  sermon,  because  of  the  precious  truth  that  is  in 
it ;  that  you  can  even  hear  a  defective  one,  for  the  grains  of 
gold  tliat  are  in  it ;  there  may  be  much  in  tliat  sanctuary 
you  do  not  like,  much  in  this  chapel  you  do  not  prefer,  but 
you  go  there  ;  and  such  is  your  thirst  for  living  water,  and 
your  hunger  for  living  bread,  that  you  can  give  up  forms 


148  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

that  you  love,  and  worship  in  forms  that  you  do  not  prefer, 
because  the  latter  have  what  the  former  have  not  —  the 
means  and  elements  of  instruction,  of  progress,  of  comfort, 
and  of  peace. 

And  so,  the  Sabbath  will  present  itself  to  you  now  in  a 
very  different  aspect.  Once  Avhen  Saturday  came  you 
looked  upon  the  Sabbath  as  a  day  it  would  be  difficuU  to 
get  over.  No  morning  newspaper  for  tlie  breakfast  table 
upon  the  Sabbath  —  what  a  calamity !  no  business  in  the 
counting-house  —  how  shall  we  get  rid  of  the  day  ?  The 
clubs  are  all  shut,  the  news-rooms  are  all  inaccessible,  the 
mai'ket  we  cannot  find  anybody  in  —  what  shall  we  do  ? 
The  rail  or  the  steamboat,  it  is  not  respectable  to  go  upon 
these  on  Sunday  —  how  shall  we  get  rid  of  this  dull  day? 
That  was  once  the  feeling.  Or  if  you  were  harassed,  as 
thousands  are,  during  the  six  days  of  the  week,  you  looked 
forward  to  the  Sunday  as  a  sort  of  seventh  day  night,  that 
you  could  spend  in  sleep,  in  rest  for  the  overtasked  and 
wearied  frame.  But  now  all  is  altered.  The  sunshine  of 
the  Sabbath,  that  gilds  the  spire  of  the  city  with  its  earliest 
beam,  is  to  you  unspeakably  beautiful.  The  chimes  of  its 
bells  ai'e  to  your  ear  full  of  music ;  and  instead  of  longing 
for  the  day  to  be  done,  you  hail  the  day  as  the  princess  of 
days,  as  the  queen  of  the  week  ;  as  a  festival,  not  a  fast ; 
as  a  rejoicing  feast,  not  a  painful  and  laborious  penance  ; 
and  you  are  only  sorry  that  the  Sabbath  sun  sets,  and  you 
long  for  the  dawn  of  that  glorious  sun  which  shall  rise  on  a 
millennial  sabbath,  and  not  set,  if  he  sets  at  all,  during  a 
thousand  years  of  sunshine.  Now  this  change  that  has 
taken  place  is  real ;  this  alteration  of  taste  is  not  a  reforma- 
tion, it  is  a  positive  revolution  ;  it  is  not  an  incidental  al- 
teration of  taste,  it  is  a  radical  transformation  of  nature. 
Why  is  it  ?^  how  is  it?  The  evidence  of  a  divine  touch 
is  as  real  in  such  a  change  as  it  was  in  the  blind  man ;  and 
you  too  may  say  with  equal  truth,  "  Whereas  I  was  blind, 
now  I  see." 


JOHN  IX.  149 

Let  me  ask,  have  you  .^liininL^  into  your  minds  this  celes- 
tial light  ?  Have  the  shutters  of  passion  been  taken  down 
from  every  mind?  have  the  clouds  of  prejudice  been  scat- 
tered from  every  heart?  Can  you  say,  "  Once  I  was  blind, 
in  darkness  that  might  be  felt ;  and  though  I  have  not  now 
the  noon  and  the  meridian  sunshine,  yet  I  see  in  these 
traces  in  my  heart  the  first  beams  of  the  approaching  day ; 
pledges  and  promises  that  he  that  has  begun  the  good  work 
in  the  grey  dawn  will  consummate .  that  good  work  till  it 
burst  into  the  splendor  and  glory  of  a  meridian  noon  ?  " 
And  if  we  have  received  our  sight,  the  least  that  we  can  do  is 
to  tell  the  proud  Pharisee,  and  cold  Sadducee,  and  cavilling 
sceptic,  and  thoughtless  worldling,  "  Come,  see  a  man  that 
can  open  blind  eyes,  that  can  transform  sinful  hearts,  that 
can  quicken  dead  souls,  that  can  fill  with  light  the  eyeballs 
of  the  born  blind."  The  least  that  you  can  do,  if  you  your- 
selves have  tasted  that  the  Lord  is  gracious,  is  to  tell  others 
where  that  grace  may  be  found,  and  how,  upon  what  cheap 
terms,  without  money  and  without  price,  they  may  have 
grace,  and  glory,  and  every  good  thing  ;  and  as  sure  as  we 
have  the  light  shining  on  these,  the  problems  and  the  truths 
Ave  have  indicated,  so  sure  shall  we  reach  that  blessed  and 
cloudless  state  where  we  shall  see  Christ  as  he  is,  and  so 
be  like  him  ;  when  the  glass  through  which  we  see  darkly 
now  shall  be  broken,  and  Ave  shall  see  all  things  as  they  are. 
There  is  not  a  ray  of  light  in  the  soul  of  the  humblest  saint, 
that  is  not  to  him  the  token,  the  earnest,  and  the  pledge,  of 
that  light  Avhich  shall  never  have  a  close,  of  that  sunrise 
Avhich  shall  never  have  his  setting.  Pray,  then,  that  He 
that  is  the  Fountain  of  light,  Avould  gi\-e  thee  light.  Say  to 
him,  "  Open  thou  mine  eyes,  O  Lord,  that  I  may  see  won- 
derful things  out  of  thy  law.  Turn  thou  me  from  darkness 
unto  light.  Blessed  Lord,  make  me  pure  in  heart,  that  I 
may  see  thee,  Lord  Jesus,  that  I  may  receive  my  sight." 

13* 


150  SCRIPTURE    KEADINGS. 

Note.  —  The  reason  of  !iis  being  sent  to  Siloam  is  uncertain  ;  it 
may  have  been  as  part  of  the  cure,  or  merely  to  wash  off  the  clay, 
—  the  former  is  most  probable.  A  beggar  blind  from  his  birth  would 
know  the  localities  sufficiently  to  be  able  to  find  his  way ;  so  that 
there  is  no  necessity  to  suppose  a  partial  restoration  of  sight  before 
his  going.  The  situation  of  the  fountain  and  pool  of  Siloam  is  very 
doubtful.  Robinson  makes  both  at  the  mouth  of  the  ancient  Tyro- 
paeon,  south-east  of  the  city,  lie  himself  explored  a  subterranean 
passage  from  this  spot  to  the  Fountain  of  the  Virgin,  higher  on  the 
banks  of  the  Kedron. 

[40.]  They  ask  the  question,  not  understanding  the  words  of  Jesus 
in  a  bodily  sense,  but  well  aware  of  their  meaning,  and  scornfully  re- 
joining, "Are,  then,  we  meant  by  these  blind,  — we,  the  leaders  of  the 
people?"  [41.]  The  distinction  in  expression  between  the  two 
clauses  must  be  carefully  borne  in  mind.  The  Lord  is  referring  pri- 
marily to  the  unbelief  of  the  Pharisees,  and  their  rejection  of  Him, 
and  He  says,  "  If  ye  were  really  blind,"  (not,  "  confessed  yourselves 
blind," — Kinnoel,  Stier,  De  Wette,)  "ye  would  not  have  incurred 
guilt ;  but  now  ye  say,  '  We  sec  : '  ye  believe,  ye  have  the  light,  and 
boast  that  ye  know  and  use  the  light,  and  therefore  your  guilt  abideth, 
remaineth  on  you."  Observe  there  is  a  middle  clause  understood, 
between  " ye  would  never  have  incurred  guilt,"  and  "your  guilt  re- 
maineth;" which  makes  it  necessary  to  take  the  T^^yere  on  j37i£tto/isv 
as  in  a  certain  sense  implying  pMrzere,  namely,  "  by  the  Scriptures 
being  committed  to  you,  by  God's  grace,  which  ought  to  have  led  you 
to  faith  in  Me."  —  Alford. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  SHEPHERD.  —  FALSE  CHRISTS. —  THE  DOOR. —  HABITS  OP  EAST- 
ERN FLOCKS. SHEPHERD  TO  DEFEND  AND  FEED  FLOCK  AND 

FOLDS.  —  Christ's  power  to  die.  —  Christ's  deity.  —  christ 

RECEIVES    WORSHIP   AND    ASSUMES    TO    BE   GOD. 

In  this  chapter  our  blessed  Lord  introduces  himself  first 
of  all,  in  the  endearing  and  suggestive  relationship  of  a 
shepherd  taking  care  of,  and  feeding  the  flock  committed  to 
his  charge.  But  lest  this  figure  should  not  sufficiently  ex- 
press his  relationship  to  his  people,  he  varies  it,  or  rather 
abandons  it  for  a  little  ;  and  says,  also,  "  I  am  the  door  of 
the  sheepfold,"  by  whom  alone  the  shepherd,  the  under- 
shepherd,  can  come  to  take  care  of  the  sheep,  and  the  sinner 
can  enter  and  have  infinite  and  everlasting  joy.  He  says 
that  all  that  came  before  him,  that  is,  all  that  came  pretend- 
ing to  be  the  Messiah,  —  for  false  Christs  came,  or  persons 
who  assumed  to  be  the  Messiah,  and  said  they  were  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  —  were  deceivers.  It  was  the  uni- 
versal expectancy  that  a  great  Deliverer  should  come  at 
this  very  crisis ;  and  wherever  there  is  a  great  expectancy 
pervading  a  whole  nation,  we  may  expect  that  evil-minded 
persons  will  avail  themselves  of  it,  and  turn  it  to  their  own 
pecuniary  profit,  aggrandizement,  or  power.  Now  Jesus 
does  not  say  that  all  prophets  that  preceded  him,  but  all 
that  pretended  to  be  what  he  alone  was,  were  simply  thieves 
and  robbers,  not  entering  by  the  door  according  to  the 
promises,  the  prophecies,  the  types,  that  went  before,  but 
climbing  over  the  wall,  thrusting  themselves  in,  and  assum- 

(151) 


152  SCKirTURE    READINGS. 

• 

ing  a  jurisdiction  to  which  they  had  no  title,  and  for  which 
they  had  no  fitness.  Then  he  says,  "  He  that  entereth  in  by 
the  door  is  tlie  shepherd  ot*  the  sheep ; "  he  that  comes  in  the 
way  publicly  and  properly  is  the  right  shepherd.  Just  as  we 
say  in  a  coiumo'n  house  the  door  is  the  place  of  legal  entrance. 
Se.eing*a  person  enter  by  the  door  you  judge  nothing  wrong  ; 
but  seeing  a  person  on  a  dark  night  climbing  in  by  the  win- 
dow, or  trying  to  get  in  by  the  roof,  you  would  instinctively 
suspect  that  he  was  a  thief  and  a  robber.  So  our  Lord  says 
those  that  come  pretending  to  be  the  Messiah  climbed  in  sur- 
reptitiously :  he  that  is  the  true  Messiah  entered  by  the  pub- 
licly appointed  way,  sketched  in  the  pages  of  the  prophets, 
well  known  to  all  that  knew  the  Scriptures ;  and  he  only  is 
the  Messiah ;  and  "  to  him  the  porter  openeth."  Whetlier  all 
the  imagery  can  be  carried  out  and  applied  to  specific  fea- 
tures in  Christ's  character  I  do  not  know,  though  some  sup- 
pose that  the  porter  here  is  meant  to  represent  the  Holy 
Spirit,  making  way  for  the  admission  into  the  heart,  into  the 
Church,  into  the  world,  for  Chi'ist  Jesus.  "To  him  the 
porter  openeth,  and  the  sheep  hear  his  voice."  And  then 
"  he  calleth  his  sheep  by  name."  In  northern  countries  this 
seems  absurd.  You  can  understand  a  dog  being  called  by 
his  name,  but  you  cannot  conceive  the  possibility  of  a  sheep 
being  called  by  his  name.  But  if  you  will  read  the  accounts 
of  the  eastern  habits  and  customs,  you  will  find  that  the 
sheep  in  those  warm  climates  seem  to  have  greater  sagacity ; 
at  all  events,  it  is  matter-of-fact,  in  the  present  day,  that  the 
shepherd  in  the  East  does  call  each  sheep  by  its  name,  and 
when  he  pronounces  that  name,  the  sheep,  accustomed  to 
hear  it,  instantly  responds  to  it ;  and  in  eastern  countries, 
instead  of  driving  the  sheep  before  him,  as  our  shepherds 
do,  from  the  hills  —  a  very  fierce  way,  and  a  law-like  way 
—  the  shepherd  goes  before  the  flock,  and  the  flock  follow 
him  as  their  guide  and  their  leader  to  the  place  to  which  he 
is  conductine  them.     These  two  facts  then  were  true  when 


JOHN  X.  153 

this  speech  or  sermon  was  preached  ;  and,  like  most  eastern 
habits,  which  are  very  little  given  to  change,  it  has  continued 
to  be  true  still,  and  so  well  do  the  sheep  know  the  shepherd's 
voice,  that  if  a  stranger  were  to  call  the  sheep  by  name  they 
would  not  follow  him.  They  recognize  the  accustomed  voice, 
and  respond  to  it.  In  the  case  of  a  dog,  if  a  stranger  call 
him  by  name,  he  will  not  follow  him,  but  if  he  hear  the  ac- 
customed voice  of  the  master  he  instantly  recognizes  and 
follows  that  voice.  A  man  can  be  more  easily  discriminated 
by  his  voice  than  by  his  countenance.  Tlie  voice  has  more 
expression  in  it,  more  definiteness  in  it,  than  even  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  countenance.  And  very  often  one  finds, 
that,  when  you  know  not  a  person  by  the  countenance,  owing 
to  the  lapse  of  years,  or  your  having  forgotten  him,  the 
moment  that  he  speaks  to  you  that  moment  you  know  his 
voice.  So  there  seems  to  be  in  the  voice  of  the  shepherd 
something  that  the  dog  in  our  country  recognizes,  that  the 
sheep  in  eastern  countries  easily  understand  ;  and  when  they 
hear  his  voice,  they  instantly  follow  him. 

Jesus  tells  them  again  that  he  is  the  door  of  the  sheep- 
fold,  and  that  all  tliat  came  before  him  came  for  wi'ong  pur- 
poses, to  steal,  to  kill,  and  to  destroy.  He  says,  "  I  am  the 
good  Shepherd  ;  "  emphatically  so,  the^  good  Shepherd.  And 
I  prove  that  I  am  so  by  giving  my  life  for  the  sheep.  Those 
that  come  for  the  fleece,  not  for  the  feeding  of  the  flock, 
those  that  come  to  steal,  not  to  tend  the  sheep,  are  hirelings ; 
and  when  the  wolf  comes,  instead  of  endeavoring  to  defend 
the  sheep,  and  to  beat  him  away,  they  flee  also,  and  leave 
the  sheep  to  the  mercy  of  the  wolf.  This  shows  us  that  the 
shepherd  has  not  only  to  tend  his  flock,  not  only  to  feed  his 
flock,  but  also  to  beat  off  the  wolf,  whether  that  wolf  be  the 
Infidel  wolf,  or  the  Romish  wolf,  or  the  Tractariun  wolf, 
whenever  he  comes  among  them.  It  is  the  shepherd's  duty 
not  only  to  lead  the  sheep  into  the  green  pastures  and  by 
the  still  waters ;  but  by  every  means  in  his  power  to  beat 


154  SCRIPTUUE    HEADINGS. 

off  the  rutliless  aggressor,  the  wolf,  whether  in  his  own  skin 
or  in  the  slain  sheep's  skin,  who  comes  only  to  destroy.  "  I 
am  the  good  Shepherd."  And  then,  in  verse  16,  he  says, 
"  Other  sheep  I  have,  which  are  not  of  this  fold."  Now 
this  16th  verse  is  perhaps  one  of  the  unluckiest  instances  of 
translation.  There  are  two  Greek  words  used  here.  One 
is  av7iTi,  which  means  "  a  fold ;  "  and  the  other  is  ■kol/j.vtj,  which 
means  "  a  flock."  Now  one  would  think,  from  reading  this 
verse,  "  Other  sheep  I  have,  which  are  not  of  this  fold ; 
them  also  I  must  hring,  and  they  shall  hear  my  voice  ;  and 
there  shall  be  one  fold,  and  one  shepherd,"  that  there  is  to 
be  only  one  fold.  That  is  not  true  ;  the  meaning  is :  if  a 
shepherd  has  a  great  number  of  sheep  he  has  half  a  dozen 
folds  —  what  we  should  call  pens,  or  divisions.  But  the 
Greek  word  used  in  the  beginning  of  the  verse,  "  Other 
sheep  have  I  which  are  not  of  this  fold,"  is  the  word  avl^, 
which  we  might  render  "  a  pen,"  or  "  sheepfold."  But  the 
word  which  is  translated  "  fold  "  in  the  latter  part  of  this 
verse  is  not  ai/i^,  but  -irolfivTi ;  and  therefore  the  verse  would 
read,  strictly  translated,  thus :  "  Other  sheep  I  have,  which 
are  not  of  this  pen,  or  fold  ;  them  also  I  must  bring,  and 
tiiey  shall  hear  my  voice :  and  there  shall  be  one  flock,  and 
one  shepherd,"  —  many  folds,  but  one  flock.  The  promise, 
according  as  our  translation  reads  here,  would  justify  in 
some  degree  the  Romish  dogma,  that  there  ought  to  be  but 
one  universal  Church,  under  one  Pope,  under  one  eccle- 
siastical head,  —  only  one  fold.  The  Papal  idea  is  one  fold 
Avitli  the  shepherd  at  the  head  of  it ;  the  Protestant  idea  is 
twenty  folds,  but  only  one  flock  ;  that  is,  many  denomina- 
tions, but  all  constituting  together,  though  in  separate 
folds,  but  one  grand  flock,  belonging  to  Christ,  the  true 
Shepherd. 

Our  Lord  then  proceeds  to  explain  that  he  lays  down  his 
life  for  the  sheep ;  and  he  uses  language  in  the  eighteenth 
verse  so  peculiar  that  no  mere  man  could  use  it.      He  says, 


JOHN  X.  155 

"  I  lay  down  my  life,  that  I  might  take  it  again.  No  man 
taketh  it  from  me,  but  I  lay  it  down  of  myself.  I  have  power 
to  lay  it  down,  and  I  have  power  to  take  it  again."  Now 
that  cannot  be  true  of  any  creature.  I  have  no  right  to  lay 
down  my  life ;  our  life  is  not  our  own.  God  may  take  it 
when,  Avhere,  how  he  pleases  ;  but  I  have  no  power  to  lay  it 
down,  and  still  less  have  I  power  to  take  it  up.  And  there- 
fore, he  that  had  this  great  power  was  something  greater 
than  life  —  he  was  the  Lord  and  the  Giver  of  life,  that  is, 
God.  There  was  a  division  among  the  Jews  when  he  said 
so.  That  expression,  I  may  observe,  "  This  commandment 
have  I  received  of  my  Father,"  does  not  at  all  lessen  the 
effect  of  what  he  said ;  because  throughout  Christ  is  the 
sent  of  the  Father,  acting  for  the  Father ;  that  is  his  office, 
and  the  peculiarity  of  his  mission,  and  not  in  the  least  affect- 
ing the  fact  that  he  was  God.  ''  Many  of  them  said,  He 
hath  a  devil.  Others  said.  These  are  not  the  words  of  him 
that  hath  a  devil.  Can  a  devil  open  the  eyes  of  the 
blind  ?  "  Then  others  said  to  him,  "  If  thou  be  the  Christ " 
—  that  is,  the  Messiah,  prophesied  in  the  Prophets  and 
in  the  Psalms  —  "  tell  us  plainly.  Jesus  answered  them, 
I  told  you."  He  told  it  to  the  blind  man ;  he  told  them 
again  and  again  he  was  Christ.  And  then  he  tells  them 
that  the  reason  why  they  did  not  hear  him  and  believe 
him,  was  just  that  they  would  not  join  his  flock,  and  come 
under  his  pastoral  care  and  jurisdiction.  "  My  sheep  hear 
my  voice."  And  then  he  says  in  another  verse,  clearly  de- 
clarative of  Deity,  "  I  give  unto  them  eternal  life."  Who  is 
it  that  says  this  ?  Could  a  man  say  so^  could  an  angel  say 
so  ?  How  can  the  Unitarian  explain  such  an  announcement 
as  this,  "  I  give  unto  them  eternal  life  ?  "  And  not  only  so, 
but  he  says,  "  And  they  shall  never  perish  ;  neither  shall 
any  "  —  not  man,  for  man  is  not  in  the  original  —  "  neither 
shall  any  cz-eated  being  pluck  them  out  of  my  hand."  See 
how  decided  is  that !     Is  not  that  the  language. of  God,  is 


156  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

not  that  the  voice  of  Deity  ?  can  there  be  a  dispute,  is  it 
possible  to  mistake  here  ?  The  Jews  instantly  were  struck 
by  it.  "  Jesus  said,  I  and  my  Father  are  one."  Now  the 
word,  "  one,"  is  in  the  neuter  gender :  "  I  and  my  Father 
are  one  existence  —  one  being."  It  does  not  mean,  "  I  and 
my  Father  are  united  in  counsel ; "  this  Avould  be  quite  a 
different  Greek  word.  It  does  not  mean,  "  I  and  my  Father 
are  of  the  same  mind,"  though  that  is  true  ;  but  it  is  a  form 
of  expression  so  peculiar  that  it  is  impossible  to  arrive  at 
any  other  inference  from  it  than  this,  that  Jesus  said  that  he 
and  the  Father  were,  in  essence,  in  substance,  and  in  attri- 
butes, the  same  glorious  Jehovah.  And  that  this  is  the 
natural  construction  of  it  is  evident  from  what  the  Jews  did. 
"  The  Jews  took  up  stones  to  stone  him."  Eecollect,  stoning, 
as  we  read  in  the  Book  of  Leviticus,  was  the  punishment 
for  blasphemy.  When  they  took  up  stones  to  stone  him, 
Jesus  said,  "  Many  good  works  have  I  showed  you  from  my 
Father ;  for  which  of  those  Avorks  do  ye  stone  me  ?  "  The 
Jews  answered,  "  For  a  good  work  we  stone  thee  not :  but 
for  blasphemy  ;  and  because  that  thou,  being  a  man,  makest 
thyself  God."  On  every  occasion  when  worship  was  given 
to  Christ,  ''  they  worshipped  him,"  he  accepted  it ;  but  if  you 
will  take  the  case  of  any  good  man  recorded  in  the  New 
Testament  to  whom  worship  was  offered,  you  will  find  that 
in  eveiy  instance  he  repudiated  it.  I  will  take  the  former 
chapter,  for  instance,  when  Jesus  told  the  blind  man,  "  I  that 
speak  unto  thee  am  he  ;  "  the  blind  man  said,  "  Lord,  I  be- 
lieve. And  he  Avorshipped  him."  Now  take  any  case  in 
which  worship  was  offered  to  an  apostle.  Take  Cornelius 
coming  in  to  the  apostle  Peter.  "  And  Cornelius  fell  down 
and  worshipped  him."  What  did  Peter  say  ?  "  Stand  up  : 
I  myself  also  am  a  man."  What  a  contrast  is  here  !  When- 
ever worship  was  offered  to  Christ  he  accejited  it ;  when 
the  shadow  of  it  was  offered  to  an  apostle  he  shrunk  from  it 
in  horror.   .Take  again  the  instance  in  the  Book  of  Revela- 


JOHN  X.  157 

tion,  where  worship  was  ofFercd  to  an  angel.  "  And  I  fell 
at  his  feet  to  worship  him."  Now  what  did  the  angel  say  ? 
Did  he,  like  Jesus,  accept  it  ?  No  ;  but  he  said,  "  See  thou 
do  it  not :  I  ana  thy  fellow-servant,  and  of  thy  brethren  that 
have  the  testimony  of  Jesus:  worship  God."  Is  it  possible, 
then,  from  this  contrast  alone,  to  come  to  any  other  conchi- 
sion  than  this,  that  Christ  was  God  ?  There  is  one  instance 
of  a  man  accepting  worship  in  the  New  Testament,  and 
what  an  instance !  And  upon  a  set  day  Herod,  arrayed 
in  royal  apparel,  sat  upon  his  throne,  and  made  an  oi'ation 
unto  them.  And  the  people  gave  a  shout,  saying,  "  It  is  the 
voice  of  a  god,  and  not  of  a  man.  And  immediately  the 
angel  of  the  Lord  smote  him,  because  he  gave  not  God  the 
glory :  and  he  was  eaten  of  worms,  and  gave  up  the  ghost." 
This  contrast  alone  —  and  you  may  carry  it  through  the 
whole  New  Testament  —  is  triumphant  proof  that  our  blessed 
Lord  was  what  he  assumed  to  be,  God. 

Then  he  argues  with  them :  he  says,  If  magistrates,  and 
kings,  and  princes  are  called  gods  —  which  they  are  in  the 
New  Testament  —  will  you  say  that  I  blaspheme,  who  am  the 
Son  of  God  ?  If  a  ruler  be  called  by  so  high  a  name,  hovf- 
much  more  am  I  God,  who  am  what  I  have  said  I  am,  the 
Son  of  God  ?  The  expression  is  here,  "  Say  ye  of  him, 
whom  the  Father  hath  sanctified."  The  word  "  sanctify " 
is  calculated  to  convey  to  some  minds  the  idea,  as  if  Christ 
needed  sanctification.  But  you  may  recollect  how  I  showed 
you  several  times  in  readings  on  Leviticus,  that  to  sanctify 
means  strictly  to  separate,  to  set  apart.  Hence  a  person  de- 
voted to  wickedness  is  called  in  the  Old  Testament  a  sanc- 
tified person ;  a  person  devoted  to  God  is  also  called  a  sanc- 
tified person.  The  Hebrew  adjective,  kadosh,  the  Greek 
word  aycoc,  and  the  Latin  word  sace?;  all  mean  that  which  is 
set  apart  to  a  specific  purpose,  whether  good  or  bad.  So 
the  word  "  to  sanctify,"  means  simply  to  set  apart,  to  appoint, 
to  constitute.  And  hence  tliis  text  might  be  read,  "  Say  ye 
14 


158  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

of  him  Avhom  the  Father  hath  set  apart  for  this  specific  pur- 
pose, and  sent  into  the  world,  Thou  blasphemest  ?  "  But  if 
you  will  not  believe  me,  why  then  judge  of  me  by  my  works  ; 
and  say  by  them  whether  I  am  not  what  I  have  said  I  am, 
the  Son  of  God,  the  Saviour  of  sinners,  the  only  Messiah. 

Thanks   be  to  God  that  we  can  say  it ;  "  Thou  art  the 
King  of  glory,  0  Christ." 


CHAPTER  X.  14-27. 

IJIAGERY.  — CHKISX'S  GOODNESS. —  STRAY  SHEEP.  —  ANIMAL  FACES. 
CHRIST  KNOWS  HIS  OWN. — SYJIPATHIZES  WITH  SECRET  SOR- 
ROWS.—  Christ's  sheep  are  his  by  choice  and  purchase. — 

FOLLOW  CHRIST. — HOW  "WE  FOLLOW  CHRIST. NUNS. 

I  HAVE  shown  how  expressive  according  to  Eastern 
usage  is  the  beautiful  figure  under  which  Jesus  is  represented 
in  the  chapter,  the  previous  striking  and  instructive  chapter, 
that  we  have  exphiined.  In  fact,  it  is  but  one  of  the  many 
reUitionships  whicli  Christ  sustains  to  his  own,  as  if  all  the 
stores  of  human  speech  and  all  the  imagery  of  human  imag- 
uiation  were  exhausted  in  order  to  set  forth  the  fulness,  the 
glory,  and  the  excellency  of  Him  who  is  our  Prince,  our 
Saviour,  our  all,  and  in  all.  But  I  do  not  know  a  figure 
more  expressive  or  moi-e  beautiful  than  that  under  which 
he  is  represented  in  this  chapter,  namely,  the  pastoral  one ; 
his  people  represented  as  the  sheep  of  his  pasture,  himself 
in  his  protecting  love  as  the  great,  the  chief,  and  the  good 
Shepherd.  He  calls  himself  in  one  of  the  texts  I  have  se- 
lected, "  the  good  Shepherd."  Perhaps  this  word  is  ex- 
pressive of  Deity;  just  as  he  said  to  the  young  man  of  old, 
"  There  is  none  good  but  God  ; "  or,  perhaps  it  is  meant  to 
convey  the  idea  of  great  beneficence ;  what  Ave  call  philan- 
thropy, or  goodness ;  and  denotes  that  he  laid  down  his  life 
for  the  flock  ;  a  goodness  that  carried  him  to  the  cross,  that 
bore  him  through  our  grave,  and  that  he  has  taken  with  him 
to  the  right  hand  of  the  Father ;  where,  unmindful  of  our 
treatment  of  him  when  he  was  one  of  us,  he  is  mindful  only 

(159) 


ICO  SCniPTURE    KEADINGS. 

of  our  safety  and  our  intei-ests  as  the  sheep  of  his  pasture. 
In  another  part  of  the  New  Testament  he  is  called  the 
Chief  Shepherd  :  "  When  the  Chief  Shepherd  shall  appear, 
then  shall  ye  also  appear  with  him  in  glory."  Again,  he  is 
called  the  Great  Shepherd  :  "  Now  the  God  of  peace,  that 
brought  again  from  the  dead  that  Great  Shepherd  of  the 
sheep  through  the  blood  of  the  everlasting  covenant."  And 
in  this  interesting  and  endearing  manner,  all  his  sheep,  how- 
ever lowly  in  the  valleys  of  life,  or  however  elevated  amid 
its  mountains,  whether  they  be  in  the  dark  shadow  or 
in  the  bright  sunshine,  whether  they  be  the  lambs  in  the 
fold  or  the  full-grown  sheep,  all  are  under  his  cognizance, 
all  clearly  and  constantly  before  him ;  so  that  accord- 
ing to  a  beautiful  parable,  in  which  he  uses  the  same 
imagery,  he  misses  even  one  that  may  have  unhappily 
strayed  from  -the  fold.  "  What  man,  having  an  hundred 
sheep,  if  he  lose  one,  doth  not  leave  the  ninety  and  nine  ; "  — 
one  would  think  that  out  of  a  hundred  he  could  scarcely  miss 
one ;  but  no  sooner  does  a  sheep  go  astray  than  the  good 
Shepherd,  ever  watchful,  ever  Avakeful,  the  Shepherd  of 
Israel  that  slumbereth  not  nor  sleepeth,  misses  even  that  one 
sheep,  and  he  does  not  say,  "  Oh,  it  is  only  one ;  I  have  got 
ninety-nine  left ;  what  does  it  matter  ?  "  no ;  he  leaves  the 
ninety  and  nine  that  are  safe  in  the  fold,  and  he  goes  after 
that  lost  one  ;  and  he  does  not  give  up  his  pursuit  nor  pause 
in  his  inquisitive  search  until  he  has  found  the  sheep ;  and 
when  he  has  found  it  what  does  he  do  ?  Does  he  do  hke  a 
tyrant  master  —  beat  it  because  it  went  astray,  and  then 
drive  it  hard  home,  that  it  may  feel  the  bitterness  of  having 
gone  astray  ?  No  ;  his  thoughts  are  not  our  thoughts,  nor 
his  ways  our  ways ;  he  lays  it  on  his  shoulder,  lest  it  should 
be  fatigued  by  the  toil  of  its  journey,  carries  it  home  not 
scolding  it,  but  rejoicing  ;  and  strikes  a  note  in  the  fold  below 
that  reverberates  in  the  choii-s  above  ;  for  there  is  joy  among 
the  angels  in  heaven  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth  and  re- 
turneth  uuto  God. 


JOHN   X.  161 

In  this  cliapter  it  is  stated  that  he  knows  them.  "  I  am 
the  good  shepherd,  and  I  know  my  sheep."  "  I  know  them." 
"We  suppose  that  there  is  scarcely  any  distinction  or  differ- 
ence almgst  between  one  sheep  and  another ;  a  person  not 
accustomed  to  discriminate  would  never  suppose  that  there 
was  any  very  perceptible  difference  between  them.  But 
this  is  a  great  mistake  ;  it  arises  from  our  ignorance.  Ani- 
mal likenesses  are  as  varied,  as  distinct,  as  sharply  defined  as 
human  countenances  are ;  and  when  you  are  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  sheep  or  with  deer,  or  other  animals,  you 
will  soon  notice  that  one  has  a  countenance  expressive 
of  one  feeling,  and  another  a  countenance  expressive  of 
another.  And  an  Eastern  shepherd  by  constant  commun- 
ion with  his  flock  comes  to  know  them  just  as  intimately 
as  he  knows  his  own  family  or  his  own  near  friends.  Now 
this  beautiful  image,  or  rather  this  interesting  fact,  Jesus 
accepts,  and  says,  "  Just  as  a  shepherd  knows  his  sheep, 
their  countenances,  and  even  the  different  tones  and  modu- 
lations of  their  bleating,  so  do  I  know  my  people  scattei-ed 
through  the  whole  woi'ld ;  every  one  of  them  is  as  visible 
before  me  and  is  as  thoroughly  recollected  by  me  as  if  there 
were  no  other  sheep  in  the  world  but  that  lonely  one  that  is 
now  astray  from  its  fold."  This  idea  is  expressed  in  other 
phrases  in  the  Bible  in  such  ways  as  this,  "  The  founda- 
tion of  God  standeth  sure,  having  this  seal,  The  Lord  know- 
eth  them  that  are  his."  He  tells  the  numbers  of  the  stars, 
he  calls  them  by  their  name ;  how  much  more  does  he  know 
the  sheep  of  his  own  pasture.  Nay,  he  knows  the  very 
street  in  which  you  live,  the  very  number  of  the  door,  the 
very  name  of  the  occupant ;  for  twice  in  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  one  is  commissioned  to  go  to  a  certain  street  of  a 
certain  city,  to  a  certain  door,  and  find  one  of  a  certain 
name  ;  and  there  that  inhabitant  is  occupied  just  as  tlie  di- 
vine voice  declared  and  predicted  he  should  be  found.  So 
minutely  is  each  man  known  to  Christ. 

14* 


1G2  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

Now  it  is  very  important  to  realize  this.  This  is  one  of 
those  truths  that  fall  too  flat  upon  those  that  hear ;  many 
receive  it  as  the  last  paragraph  in  a  morning  newspaper ; 
they  read  it,  and  then  dismiss  it  from  their  minds.  Let  us 
try  to  give  it  a  lodgement  in  our  hearts  ;  try  to  realize  it, 
give  the  thought  hospitality,  cherish  it,  take  it  home,  think 
of  it ;  and  you  will  derive  comfort,  guidance,  hope,  encour- 
agement, motive,  strength.  The  sad  fact  is  that  many  truths 
are  preached  every  day  in  every  sermon ;  which  we  let  pass 
in  at  one  ear  and  out  at  the  other,  as  the  wind  passes  through 
a  ruined  archway,  creating  a  little  melody  in  its  transit,  and 
leaving  dead  silence  afterwards ;  we  hear  it,  and  think  no 
more  of  it.  Whereas  if  you  could  just  take  out  of  one 
sermon  one  grand  truth,  such  a  truth  as  this,  "  Thou  God 
seest  me  ;  "  "  the  Shepherd  knows  me,  sees  me,  as  clearly 
as  if  I  were  the  only  individual  in  the  universe  "  —  that 
recollected  thought  would  be  worth  your  going  a  thousand 
miles  to  hear  it ;  it  would  be  a  mine  of  gold  kept,  and 
nursed,  and  cherished  in  your  hearts  ;  it  would  be  as  a  seed 
that  would  quicken  there,  and  bear  much  fragrant,  and  joy- 
ous, and  holy  fruit  for  many  days  to  come. 

But  not  only  does  Christ  thus  know  his  people,  but  we 
can  go  a  step  further,  and  say  that  Jie  knows  also  all  their 
circumstances,  their  condition,  and  their  case.  I  have  said 
the  shepherd  knows  the  sheep  by  the  sound  of  their  bleat- 
ing, by  the  shape  and  the  aspect  of  their  countenance  ;  and 
so  our  Shepherd  knows  us.  But  more  than  this,  a  true 
shepherd  knows,  and  pities,  and  helps,  the  sheep  that  are 
sickly,  those  that  are  lame,  those  that  are  with  young. 
How  beautifully  is  it  said,  "  He  shall  lead  his  flock  like  a 
shepherd ;  he  shall  carry  in  his  bosom  them  that  are  with 
young  ; "  or  as  it  is  expressed  in  another  interesting  in- 
stance, where  Jacob,  speaking  to  the  avaricious  and  greedy 
Laban,  says,  "  These  twenty  years  have  I  been  with  thee  ; 
thy  ewes  and  thy  she  goats  have  not  cast  their  young,  and 


JOHN  X.  163 

the  rams  of  thy  flock  have  I  not  eaten.  That  which  was 
torn  of  beasts  I  brought  not  unto  thee  ;  I  bear  the  loss  of 
it ;  of  my  hand  didst  thou  require  it,  whether  stolen  by  day, 
or  stolen  by  night.  Thus  I  was  ;  in  the  day  the  drought 
consumed  me,  and  the  frost  by  night ;  and  my  sleep  departed 
from  mine  eyes.  Thus  have  I  been  twenty  yeai's  in  thy 
house  "  —  a  shepherd  rendering  an  account  of  his  flock,  but 
with  all  the  features  of  a  human  shepherd  who  had  lost 
some,  but  still  could  say  that  those  that  remained  he  had 
tended,  and  cared  for,  and  sympathized  with,  and  protected 
to  the  utmost  of  his  power.  Far  more  intimately  than  Jacob 
knew  his  sheep,  more  intimately  than  the  shepherd  patriarch 
knew  the  sick,  the  weak,  the  hungry,  the  lame,  does  our 
great  and  chief  Shepherd  of  the  sheep  know  his  people. 
He  knows  that  want  which  nobody  else  knows  but  thyself: 
he  knows  and  he  has  weighed  that  burden  which  nobody  feels 
the  weight  of  save  he  that  bears  it ;  he  has  plumbed  and 
fathomed  that  deep  sorrow,  that  moaning  sea  of  soitow, 
which  tears  refuse  to  express,  and  which  words  cannot  give 
utterance  to.  He  knows  it.  You  are  quite  mistaken  if  you 
think  that  you  have  no  sympathy.  If  you  have  not  a  re- 
sounding echo  in  a  single  human  heart,  you  have  the  deep- 
est, the  richest,  the  most  refreshing  sympathy  in  the  bosom 
of  the  Great  Shepherd  of  the  sheep.  Let  us  try  to  take 
that  other  thouglit  with  us  ;  —  that  not  only  does  he  know 
me  as  an  individual,  but  he  knows  my  want,  my  sorrow,  my 
care,  my  anxiety  ;  of  the  most  hidden  sufferer,  the  obscurest 
■weeper,  the  most  solitary  sorrowful  one,  he  knows  the  hid- 
den grief,  and  sympathizes  with  him,  and  will,  as  soon  as 
the  tears  have  freshened  the  waste  places  of  the  spirit,  and 
the  sorrow  like  the  dew  has  saturated,  the  heart's  soil  and 
made  it  fruitful,  heal  the  sorrow,  remove  the  burden,  and 
make  the  latter  days  more  joyous  than  the  first.  What  a 
blessed  thought  is  this !  how  worthy  of  our  recollecting,  how 
fitted  to  encourage,  to  cheer,  to  strengthen.     And  he  does  it 


164  SCRirXUKE    READINGS. 

all  not  only  as  God,  but  also  because  he  is  man ;  not  simply 
because  he  is  omniscient,  omnipresent ;  but  because,  omni- 
scient as  he  is,  omnipresent  as  he  is,  he  is  our  Elder  Brother. 
We  have  not  a  high-priest  who  cannot  sympathize  with  us, 
but  one  who  was  in  all  points  tempted  like  as  we  are,  and 
yet  without  sin.  His  sympathy  is  not  lost  in  his  omnipo- 
tence ;  his  humanity  is  not  merged  in  his  deity  ;  he  has  feel- 
ings as  we  have ;  but  he  has  the  power  to  pour  out  his 
feelings  in  precious  currents  of  sympathy  and  of  love.  All 
this  however  is  restricted  to  those  that  he  calls  his  sheep. 
"  I  know  my  sheep."  In  what  sense  are  they  his  sheep  ? 
How  and  why  are  they  his  ?  They  are  so  by  his  free  choice 
of  them.  He  himself  tells  us,  "  Ye  have  not  chosen  me,  but 
I  have  chosen  you."  That  means,  you  were  not  the  first  to 
choose,  I  was  the  first ;  and  your  now  choosing  me  is  only 
the  result  of  my  having  previously  chosen  you.  His  love 
lighted  upon  us  before  we  loved  him  ;  his  grace  touched  us 
before  we  responded.  "We  are  his  therefore  by  his  own  free 
and  sovereign  choice.  "VYe  are  his  because  we  are  a  gift  to 
him.  "  Thine,"  he  says,  "  they  were,  and  thou  gavest  them 
me."  Again,  he  says,  "  Behold,  I,  and  the  children  thou 
hast  given  me."  Just  as  a  proprietor  of  sheep  intrusts  all 
the  folds  and  all  the  flocks  to  the  shepherd  he  engages,  so 
the  everlasting  Father  has  committed  his  people  to  Christ's 
care,  to  be  washed  in  his  precious  blood,  to  be  tended  by  his 
pastoral  care,  and  to  be  made  meet  for  leaving  the  shattered 
folds  below,  exposed  to  the  incursions  of  the  wolf,  for  the 
heavenly  and  glorious  flock  that  is  above.  And  we  are  not 
only  his  by  this  choice,  but  we  are  his  also  by  being  his 
property.  "  Ye  are  not  your  own,"  he  says,  "  but  ye  are 
bought  with  a  price  ;  not  with  gold  and  silver,  but  with 
the  precious  blood  of  a  Lamb  without  spot  and  without 
blemish."  If  we  be  Christ's  sheep,  we  are  chosen  by  him. 
We  cannot  penetrate  the  secret  of  that,  and  read  the 
decree  that  chooses  us  ;  but  we  can  open  the  book  that  is 


JOHN  X.  165 

the  transcript  of  it,  and  see  by  our  character  if  we  are 
Christ's  sheep.  We  are  the  Fatjjpr'^s  gift  to  him,  and  lastly 
we  are  purchased  by  his  own  precious  blood. 

But  in  order,  therefore,  to  keep  us  right,  and  to  enable  us 
to  ascertain  if  we  be  his  sheep,  that  is,  if  we  be  Christians, 
we  find  certain  traits  laid  down ;  and  the  very  first  is,  "  My 
sheep  know  me,"  or,  "  I  am  known  of  them."  "  My  sheep 
hear  my  voice,  and  a  stranger's  voice  they  will  not  follow." 
Sheep  recognize  in  eastern  countries  the  voice  of  the 
shepherd  ;  and  if  they  were  properly  trained  here,  they 
would  probably  do  the  same.  The  degeneracy  of  many  of 
our  animals  arises  from  bad  treatment.  We  read  in  Scrip- 
ture of  princes  riding  on  white  asses ;  the  ass  in  eastern 
countries,  and  in  Spain,  at  this  day,  is  a  beautiful  animal,  a 
high-spirited  animal,  full  of  vigor,  beauty,  and  usefulness. 
But  in  our  country,  because  he  is  degraded,  he  becomes 
more  and  more  degenerate.  And  so  in  the  same  manner 
other  animals  lose  the  instincts  that  they  had  by  the  treat- 
ment they  receive.  If  our  sheep  were  cared  for  by  the 
shepherd  more,  they  too  might  know  his  voice.  But  this  is 
now  true  in  the  East,  and  what  is  implied  in  the  imagery  of 
that  sermon  is  strictly  descriptive  of  our  relationship  to 
Christ.  A  believer  does  know  Christ's  voice.  I  do  not  say 
that  every  Christian  is  a  great  theologian  ;  I  do  not  say  that 
every  communicant  is  a  Christian  ;  I  do  not  say  that  every 
baptized  person  is  a  Christian  ;  but  I  do  say  that  every  true 
Christian  when  he  hears  a  sermon  preached  can  say  whether 
that  sermon  be  the  echo  of  Christ's  voice  ;  whether  the 
chord  of  the  Redeemer's  voice  runs  through  it ;  whether  it 
be,  to  use  a  modern  expression,  a  Gospel  sermon  or  not. 
They  that  do  know  the  Gospel,  they  that  are  truly  converted 
men,  can  distinguish  ;  and  if  all  men  were  Christians,  then 
all  men  Avould  choose  invariably  for  their  ministers,  where 
they  have  the  power,  only  Christian  men  to  minister  to  them. 
And  it  is  very  remarkable  too,  that  wherever  there  is  some- 


166  SCblPTUUE    READIXGS. 

thing  in  this  Gospel  not  only  that  is  known  by  God's  people 
but  there  is  a  music  in  i^  so  singularly  its  own,  that  let  the 
Gospel  be  faithfully  preached  by  a  man  that  feels  it  • —  not 
eloquently,  not  powerfully,  but  earnestly  and  truly  —  and  he 
will  never  be  without  an  audience  to  listen  to  him.  You 
naay  depend  upon  it  that  wherever  there  is  not  an  audience 
—  there  may  not  be  a  crowd  —  but  wherever  there  is  not 
an  audience  to  listen,  there  is  something  wrong  in  him  that 
speaks,  either  in  his  manner,  or  seriously  in  liis  matter. 
The  promise  is  absolute,  "  I,  if  I  am  lifted  up,  will  draw  all 
men  unto  me."  As  we  read  the  Gospel,  we  find  that  the 
Pharisees  scoffed  at  Christ,  that  the  Sadducees  derided  him, 
but  that  it  is  added,  "  the  common  people  heard  him  gladly  ;  " 
meaning  that  there  was  a  power  in  the  preaching  of  the 
^ruth  that  the  great  unsophisticated  masses  were  not  able  to 
resist.  And  if  we  indeed  be  Christians,  you  may  hear  in  a 
sermon  sometimes  bad  grammar,  sometimes  a  badly  turned 
sentence,  not  the  most  eloquent  expression,  or  the  most 
beautiful  imagery ;  Christians  look  for  something  above  all 
that ;  and  if  we  find  in  that  sermon  Christ's  voice,  if  we  find 
in  its  truths  living  bread,  if  we  find  in  its  words  living  streams 
from  the  fountain  of  life,  we  shall  forgive  all  the  bad  rhetoric 
and  all  the  defects  of  grammar,  and  be  thankful  that  an  un- 
der shepherd,  commissioned  by  the  chief  Shepherd,  speaks 
to  us  the  words  of  everlasting  life. 

"  My  sheep  know  my  voice  ; "  and  it  is  added  as  the  next 
feature,  and  one  not  less  worthy  of  noticing,  and  by  which 
you  can  ascertain  if  you  be  the  sheep  of  Christ,  namely, 
that  they  follow  him.  The  shepherd  precedes  the  flock  ;  in 
our  country  the  shepherd  drives  the  flock.  We  treat  the 
sheep  as  if  they  were  folded  on  Mount  Sinai ;  the  Eastern 
shepherd  treats  them  as  if  they  were  amid  the  green  pas- 
tures and  the  still  waters  of  Zion.  The  Eastern  shepherd 
precedes,  and  the  sheep  follow  ;  so  our  great  Shepherd  pre- 
cedes and  we  also  follow.     And  if  you  open  the  New  Testa- 


JOHN  X.  167 

y  ment,  especially  the  Book  of  Revelation,  you  will  find  it  laid 
down  as  the  mark  of  Christ's  people  :  "  These  are  they  that 
follow  the  Lamb."  "  Be  ye  followers  of  me,  even  as  I  am 
of  Christ."  Thus,  if  we  be  Christ's  sheep,  we  not  only  hear 
his  voice,  appreciate  his  word,  distinguish  his  truth  from  all 
other  truth  whatever,  but  are  refreshed  by  it,  and  rejoice  in 
it ;  and  the  truth  received  into  the  intellect  changes  the 
heart,  and  shapes  and  gives  tone  to  the  life,  and  therefore 
we  follow  Christ.     In  what  respects  do  we  follow  Christ  ?  — 

*  and  by  ascertaining  that,  we  also  ascertain  the  tests  and 
criteria  of  true  Christianity.  We  follow  Christ  in  one  grand 
feature,  his  ceaseless  reference  to  the  written  word.  Wher- 
ever a  question  was  put  to  him,  his  answer  was  always, 
"  Have  ye  not  read  ?  "  "  What  say  the  Scriptures  ?  "  "  Plow 
readest  thou  ?  "  "  Search  the  Sci-iptures."  I  know  nothing 
more  instructive  than  Christ's  answering  almost  every  ques- 
tion, not  from  the  depths  of  his  own  infinite  wisdom,  as  he 
might  have  done,  but  from  a  text  in  his  own  inspired  book. 
We,  too,  if  we  are  following  Christ,  shall  follow  him  in  this 
respect.  We  shall  believe  a  truth,  not  upon  a  pope's  dictum 
or  a  council's  authority,  nor  a  minister's  opinion  nor  a  synod's 
decision,  but  on  this  ground  only,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord." 
The  truth  that  has  not  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  "  embosoming 
it,  may  be  a  very  scientific  one,  a  very  useful  one,  but  it  is 
not  a  vital  and  a  saving  one  ;  and  we  cannot  accept  —  our 
souls  are  too  precious  —  we  cannot  accept  any  man's  opinion 
on  matters  that  relate  to  our  everlasting  well-being,  instead 
of  the  decision  of  Him  whose  word  is  truth.  If,  therefore, 
my  dear  friends,  you  want  the  way  to  heaven,  follow  Christ 
by  referring  to  the  Bible :  if  you  want  to  know,  "  What 
must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  "  imitate  Christ's  appealing  to  the 
Bible  by  searching  the  Scriptures.  This  is  a  precious  trait 
in  him  that  we  are  to  follow. 

His  sheep  follow  him  in  his  intercourse  with  the  world. 
I  know  nothinjc  more  striking;  than  Christ's  intercourse  with 


168  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

the  world.  He  did  not  live  in  a  hermitage  or  a  monastery, 
and  fling  forth  truths  from  its  recesse?  to  the  crowd  outside ; 
but  he  mixed  with  the  world,  he  sat  at  the  Publican's  table, 
he  appeared  in  the  crowded  thoroughfare ;  wherever  an  ear 
would  listen,  there  was  Jesus  to  speak  forth  the  words  of 
everlasting  life.  The  beautiful  distinction  in  his  life  was 
this ;  he  was  in  the  world,  but  he  was  not  of  the  world ; 
he  never  forgot,  at  any  point  of  contact  with  the  world,  that 
he  was  an  ambassador  from  God,  a  Prophet,  a  Priest,  and  a 
King.  This  very  fact — that  Jesus  mixed  with  the  world, 
met  the  world  foot  to  foot,  entered  into  all  its  pursuits  that 
were  not  frivolous  or  positively  wicked,  and  there  tried  to 
make  the  Avorld  better  —  is  the  most  striking  rebuke  on 
monkery  and  asceticism  that  one  can  possibly  conceive. 
There  was  nothing  of  the  ascetic  in  Christ's  life,  nothing  of 
the  recluse ;  one  dressed  like  the  world,  speaking  like  the 
world,  weeping  like  the  woi'ld,  rejoicing  like  the  world,  and 
yet  infinitely  above  it,  though  subject  to  all  the  sorrows,  the 
infirmities,  the  weaknesses,  the  illnesses,  the  faintness,  the 
hunger  and  thirst  of  the  world ;  always  in  it,  never  of  it, 
speaking  to  it  and  leaving  a  benediction  wherever  he  found 
a  footing.  Such  was  Christ,  and  such  is  the  example  that 
we  are  to  follow ;  and  that  example  should  teach  us,  there- 
fore, that  we  are  to  be  in  the  world,  not  to  go  out  of  it,  in 
order  to  be  Christian.  I  have  often  been  amazed  how  any 
one  can  justify  a  monk's  or  a  nun's  decision.  If  a  nun  be  a 
very  Christian  woman,  of  all  persons  upon  earth  the  world 
has  the  greatest  need  of  her ;  and  instead  of  going  out  of  it, 
it  is  a  call  to  her  to  remain  in  it.  But  if  she  be  not  a  Chris- 
tian, she  ought  to  seek  after  sanctifying  influence  in  spite  of 
it ;  but  if  she  go  into  a  convent,  it  is  very  unlikely  that  she 
will  catch  many  sanctifying  influences  there.  And  it  does 
seem  to  me,  therefore,  that  a  mother  teaching  her  children, 
or  a  lady  going  from  house  to  house  as  a  district  visitor,  and 
endeavoring  to  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  tlie  poor,  is  a  sub- 


JOHN  X.  169 

liiner  and  nobler  spectacle  —  certainly  more  like  tliat  of  the 
blessed  Master  —  than  that  of  a  recluse  or  a  nun,  dressed 
in  a  style  the  most  grotesque,  not  Christian  because  it  is 
grotesque,  —  denying  herself  wholesome  food,  and  feeding 
upon  bitter  and  unwholesome  herbs,  which  can  be  no  sanc- 
tification  to  the  soul,  whilst  it  must  be  the  shortening  of  life, 
and  great  torment  to  the  body ;  and  least  of  all  is  she  like 
Christ  in  hiding  her  light  under  a  bushel,  instead  of  bringing 
it  out  into  the  street,  that  they  that  walk  in  dai'kness  may  be 
benefited  by  it.  What  common  sense  is  there  in  every  page 
of  the  Bible  !  what  a  perfect  and  beautiful  character  was 
our  blessed  Lord  !  what  a  grand  example  of  what  is  best  for 
a  man  and  most  holy  in  the  sight  of  God ! 

We  are  to  follow  him  in  his  joys.  Jesus  often  wept,  but, 
it  is  singular  enough,  it  is  not  once  said  he  smiled.  It  is 
said  he  rejoiced ;  and  it  is  said  he  rejoiced  for  the  joy  set 
before  him.  On  one  occasion  Jesus  rejoiced  in  spirit ;  but 
he  was  never  seen  to  smile.  He  was  emphatically  the  Man 
of  Sorrows.  I  do  not  say  that  joy  in  us  is  sinful.  But  he 
had  joy.  But  there  are  different  kinds  of  joy.  There  is  a 
joy  that  is  natural.  If  you  have  got  a  sudden  accession 
to  your  wealth,  to  your  comfort,  to  your  position,  you  may 
rejoice  —  that  is  not  sinful ;  nothing  that  is  natui-al  is  sinful ; 
it  is  what  is  contrary  to  nature,  or  injurious  to  nature,  that 
is  sinful.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  a  joy  that  is  devilish. 
The  devils  rejoice  when  schemes  of  wickedness  are  crowned 
wdth  success.  Such  joy  is  forbidden.  And  there  is  the  last 
joy  that  rises  to  a  higher  level  —  the  joy  that  Christ  had  — 
joy  at  the  conversion  of  souls,  at  the  spread  of  his  kingdom, 
at  the  lengthening  of  its  cords  and  the  strengthening  of  its 
stakes,  and  that  the  travail  of  his  soul  was  about  to  be 
crowned  with  an  abundant  blessing.  This  joy  we  should 
drink  into  yet  more,  and  follow  him  in  cherishing  it.  We 
should  follow  him,  too,  in  his  sorrow.  Jesus  had  the  sorrow 
of  a  man,  he  had  a  sorrow  that  was  perfectly  human.     It  is 

15 


170  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

said  he  wept  at  the  grave  of  Lazarus.  That  weeping  was 
not  the  weeping  that  was  pecuhar  to  him,  but  the  weeping 
that  every  one  has.  Sorrow  is  the  heirloom  of  every  family  ; 
its  melancholy  records  are  on  the  tapestry  of  noble  halls,  as 
much  as  on  the  damp  floors  of  the  lowly  and  the  afflicted  poor. 
It  is  absurd  to  say  to  a  person  who  is  mourning  over  the 
loss  of  a  relative  or  a  friend,  "  Do  not  weep  ;  it  is  not  right 
to  weep."  Such  advice  is  worse  than  the  ordinary  common- 
place consolation.  It  is  quite  right  that  we  should  weep ; 
they  cannot  help  weeping;  and  there  is  no  sin  in  weeping. 
The  rule  that  regulates  it  is,  to  "  weep  as  though  you  wept 
not,"  feeling  that  there  are  things  to  be  wept  for  far  more 
sorrowful  than  bereavements,  and  losses,  and  crosses.  Jesus 
had  sorrow,  that  was  the  sorrow  of  a  man ;  but  he  had  a 
sorrow  that  we  cannot  follow  him  in  —  the  sorrow  that  he 
felt  as  he  trod  the  wine-press  alone ;  the  sorrow  that  was 
atoning  and  expiatory,  the  sorrow  that  ended  in  his  aton- 
ing death  and  meritorious  sacrifice :  in  that  he  was  alone. 
Even  the  virgin  mother's  tears  might  not  mingle  with 
those  tears.  He  must  weej)  in  this  matter  alone,  and  he 
receives  the  glory  alone  as  the  only  Saviour  and  sacrifice. 

Are  we  then  his  sheep?  Do  we  show  that  we  are,  by 
exhibiting,  however  dimly,  these  tests  of  the  Christian  char- 
acter ?  The  likeness  of  Christ,  at  first,  will  be  like  the  en- 
graving upon  steel  or  upon  copper  ;  it  Avill  be  first  faint,  but 
as  days  accumulate,  it  will  become  deeper,  sharper,  more  de- 
fined, more  distinct.  Have  you  these  traits,  these  marks, 
these  engravings,  it  may  be  at  present  faint,  but  still  there  ? 
If  they  be  there  they  will  be  deepened,  until  they  are  the 
full  likeness  of  Christ  Jesus.  And  if  you  be  his  people,  how 
blessed  the  thought !  "  I  give  unto  them  eternal  life,  and 
none  shall  pluck  them  out  of  my  hand."  "  I  give  unto  them 
eternal  life."  Can  I  fail  to  believe  in  the  perseverance  of 
saints  after  reading  that  ?  Once  a  Christian  (I  say  it  having 
clearly  before  me  the  misconstructions  that  may  be  put  upon 


JOHN    X.  171 

it)  —  once  a  Christian,  a  Christian  for  ever.  Regenerated 
to-day,  you  cannot  be  unregenerated  to-morrow.  It  is  im- 
possible that  a  man  can  be  a  child  of  God  to-day,  and  a  child 
of  Satan  to-mori'ow.  He  may  profess  to  be  one  to-day,  and 
give  up  his  profession  to-morrow  ;  but  he  has  given  up  a  pro- 
fession, not  a  reality.  Wherever  thei'e  is  a  true  shee]),  a 
true  believer,  that  believer  has  eternal  life,  Christ's  free  gift, 
and  none  shall  pluck  him  out  of  Christ's  hand.  Neither  life 
nor  death,  nor  height  nor  depth,  nor  any  other  creature, 
shall  be  able  to  separate  us  from  the  love  of  God  that  is  in 
Christ  Jesus ;  not  because  we  hold  liim  so  strongly,  but  be- 
cause he  holds  us  so  fast.  It  is  Christianity  that  holds  us, 
not  we  that  hold  Christianity.  If  it  depended  upon  us,  we 
should  perish  in  twenty-four  hours ;  but  as  it  depends  upon 
tlie  faithful  promise,  the  unfaltering  love,  the  grasp  of  Om- 
nipotence, the  sympathy  of  a  Brother,  therefore  we  have 
eternal  life,  and  none  shall  pluck  us  out  of  his  hand. 

And,  as  if  this  imagery  of  the  shepherd  and  the  sheep 
were  not  peculiar  to  earth,  it  is  transferred  to  heaven.  The 
most  beautiful  picture  of  saints  in  glory  is  a  pastoral  one,  and 
the  very  reading  of  it  is  the  richest  and  the  most  striking 
eloquence.  "What  are  these  which  are  arrayed  in  white 
robes  ?  and  whence  came  they  ?  And  I  said  unto  him,  Sir, 
thou  knowest.  And  he  •said  to  me.  These  are  they  which 
came  out  of  great  tribulation,  and  have  washed  their  robes, 
and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  There- 
fore are  they  before  the  throne  of  God,  and  serve  him  day 
and  night  in  his  temple ;  and  he  that  sitteth  on  the  throne 
shall  dwell  among  them.  They  shall  hunger  no  more,  nei- 
ther thirst  any  more ;  neither  shall  the  sun  light  on  them, 
nor  any  heat.  For  the  Lamb  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the 
throne  shall  feed  them,  and  shall  lead  them  unto  living  foun- 
tains of  waters ;  and  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from 
their  eyes." 

May  we  be  in  that  happy  group,  in  that  blessed  fold,  for 
Christ's  sake ! 


172  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

Note. —  These  opening  verses  (to  verse  5)  set  forth  the  distinction 
between  false  and  true  shepherds.  Then  (verses  7,  8,  9)  lie  brings  in 
himself  as  the  door  by  which  both  shepherds  and  sheep  enter  the  fold. 
Then  (verse  10)  he  returns  to  the  imagery  of  the  first  verses,  and  sets 
forth  himself  as  the  good  shepherd;  and  the  rest  (to  verse  18)  is 
occupied  with  the  results  and  distinctions  dependent  on  that  fact. 
r^v  aiiX.  6  ■Kepi.TETEixt.a^evog  k.  vTzaidpo^  tokoq  (Phavorinas,  Lucke,  ii. 
403),  just  answering  —  except  in  this  being  a  permanent  inclosure  — 
to  our  "fold."  This  fold  is  the  visible  Church  of  God,  primarily,  as 
his  people  Israel  were  his  peculiar  fold ;  afterwards  the  fold  compre- 
hends all  the  faithful.  The  terms  in  this  first  part  are  general,  and 
apply  to  all  leaders  of  God's  people;  in  verse  1,  to  those  who  enter 
that  office  without  having  come  in  at  the  door  (i.  e.  Christ,  in  the 
large  sense  in  which  the  0.  T.  faithful  looked  to  and  trusted  in  him 
as  the  covenant  promise  of  Israel's  God) ;  and  in  verse  2,  to  those 
who  do  enter  this  way;  and  whosoever  does,  is  a  shepherd  of  the 
sheep,  (not  the  Shepherd,  as  E.  V.,  see  verse  11).  The  sheep  through- 
out this  parable  are  not  the  mingled  multitude  of  good  or  bad,  but  the 
real  sheep,  the  faithful,  who  ai-e  what  all  in  the  fold  should  be.  The 
false  sheep  (goats.  Matt.  xxv.  32)  do  not  appear ;  for  it  is  not  the  char- 
acter of  the  flock,  but  that  of  the  Shepherd,  and  the  relation  between 
him  and  his  sheep,  which  is  here  prominent. 

[3.]  Perhaps  the  dvpupog,  the  porter,  should  not  be  too  much  pressed 
as  significant;  but  certainly  the  Holy  Spirit  is  especially  he  who 
opens  the  door  to  the  shepherds.  See  frequent  uses  of  this  symbolism 
by  the  Apostles,  Acts  xvi.  27  ;  1  Cor.  xvi.  9  ;  2  Cor.  ii.  12  ;  Col.  iv. 
3 ;  and  instances  of  the  dvpupbg  shutting  the  door,  Acts  xvi.  6,  7.  — 
Alford. 


CHAPTER  XL 

lazarus  sick,  martha  and  mart. bethany.  —  publication 

of  good  deeds. the  appeal  of  the  sisters.  jesus  man 

as  well  as  god. delay  not  denial.  —  death  a   sleep.  — 

characters.  short    and    sublime    creed.  secret    op 

Christ's  sorrow. 

This  truly  interesting  chapter  is  too  long  for  the  neces- 
sarily cursory  exposition  which  one  can  here  give.  We 
read  in  the  previous  chapter  but  one,  of  the  blind  man 
whose  eyes  he  opened ;  and  in  this  chapter  we  have  an  al- 
lusion to  it,  as  a  fact  that  ought  to  have  proved,  as  they 
thought,  that  he  who  could  open  the  eyes  of  the  blind  might 
have  prevented  the  death  of  Lazarus,  the  brother  of  Mary 
and  her  sister  Martha.  The  chapter  opens  by  mentioning 
that  "  a  certain  man  was  sick,  named  Lazarus,  of  Bethany  ;" 
and  the  evangelist  adds,  as  if  it  were  the  most  beautiful  and 
lasting  characteristic  of  Bethany,  that  it  was  "  the  town  of 
Mary  and  her  sister  Martha."  No  doubt,  that  little  village 
was  signalized  for  other  things  than  for  being  the  residence 
of  these  two  Christian  women ;  but  in  all  probability  the 
good  works  they  had  done  had  so  honored  it,  the  good  they 
had  spread  had  been  so  great,  the  poor  they  had  aided,  the 
suffering  they  had  sympathized  with,  had  been  so  deeply 
and  so  extensively  felt  and  appreciated,  that  the  town  came 
to  be  no  longer  the  town  of  this  conqueror,  or  of  that  poet, 
or  of  that  painter,  or  of  that  sculptor,  but  the  town  of  two 
whose  names  were  on  no  tablets  upon  earth,  but  were  writ- 
ten in  the  Lamb's  Book  of  Life  —  the  town  of  Mary  and  of 
her  sister  Martha.  We  find  in  the  second  verse  a  reference 
15*  (173) 


174  SCRIPTCUE    KEADINGS. 

to  an  incident  connected  with  Mary :  "  It  was  that  Mary 
which  anointed  tlie  Lord  with  ointment,  and  wiped  his  feet 
with  her  hair,  whose  brotlier  Lazarus  was  sick."  Thus  the 
good  deeds  that  Christians  do  by  grace  may  be  justly  pub- 
lished, for  we  have  here  a  precedent  for  doing  so.  Many 
people  speak  as  if  to  tell  in  any  shape  what  you  have  done 
were  necessarily  to  boast  of  the  good  you  have  done  ;  but 
it  is  not  so.  One  man  may  keep  silent  on  the  good  that 
he  has  done,  because  he  is  too  proud  to  tell  it ;  another  man 
may  speak  of  the  good  that  he  has  done  because  it  will  con- 
tribute to  the  glory  of  his  Master,  and  to  the  benefit  of 
souls.  It  does  not  necessarily  follow,  that  to  publish  what 
you  have  done  is  to  boast  of  it.  There  may  be  that  end, 
that  may  be  the  motive  ;  but  it  is  not  always  or  necessarily 
so  ;  and  the  charity  of  the  Gospel  leads  us  never  to  impute 
a  bad  or  a  specious  motive,  when  we  can  by  any  possibility 
impute  a  good,  a  holy,  and  a  Christian  one. 

"  Therefore  his  sisters  sent  unto  him,  saying,  Lord,  be- 
hold, he  whom  thou  lovest  is  sick."  They  told  Jesus  of  the 
fact ;  and  the  argument  on  which  they  based  their  appeal  to 
Jesus,  and  their  hope  and  expectation  of  his  interference, 
was,  "  He  whom  thou  lovest  is  sick."  One  would  have 
thought  they  would  have  said,  "  He  who  loveth  thee  is 
sick  ; "  as  if  his  love  to  Christ  would  be  a  reason  for  Christ 
responding  to  it  by  saving  him  from  a  sick-bed.  But  the 
sisters  knew  better  ;  they  knew  Christ  ;  and  they  felt,  wise- 
ly and  justly  felt,  as  the  sequel  proves,  that  Christ's  love  to 
Lazarus  was  a  stronger  inducement  to  Christ  to  interfere 
than  any  love  that  Lazarus  could  have  to  him.  We  are  so 
strong,  not  because  we  love  him,  but  because  he  first  in  his 
sovereignty  loved  us.  And  therefore  they  touched  a  chord 
that  they  knew  would  vibrate  in  the  bosom  of  the  sympa- 
thizing Son  of  Man,  when  they  said  to  him  in  simple  but 
most  significent  words,  "  He  whom  thou  lovest  is  sick." 
That  was  enough.     When  Jesus  heard  it  he  said,  without 


JOHN    XI.  175 

promising  to  come,  "  This  sickness  is  not  unto  death  ;  "  that 
is,  will  not  be  a  final  and  fatal  one  ;  but  it  is  in  another  re- 
spect for  the  glory  of  God,  that  I,  the  Son  of  God,  may  be 
glorified  thereby.  And  then  it  is  added,  that  Jesus  not  only 
loved  Lazarus,  the  brother  that  was  sick,  but  "  he  loved 
Martha,  and  her  sister,  and  Lazarus."  And  this  love,  I  be- 
lieve, that  he  bore,  was  not  simply  the  love  that  is  divine, 
but  the  love  also  that  is  human.  We  must  never  forget 
that  our  blessed  Lord,  whilst  he  was  God,  was  always  and 
everywhere  the  perfect  man ;  and  the  three  friends  that  he 
seems  to  have  had,  to  whose  homestead  he  came,  under 
whose  hospitable  roof  he  frequently  sat,  and  talked  of  the 
things  of  the  kingdom,  were  Martha,  and  Mary,  and  Laza- 
rus. If  Jesus  had  only  set  before  us  the  instance  of  a  di- 
vine life,  there  would  have  been  omitted  from  his  character 
one  feature  that  we  now  see  consecrated  in  him  ;  namely, 
the  love  of  friend  to  friend  as  well  as  the  love  of  God  to 
man.  He  was  the  friend  of  these  three,  as  well  as  their 
Saviour  also.  But  in  the  sixth  verse  it  seems  at  first  very 
surprising,  "  When  he  had  heard,  therefore,  that  he  was 
sick,  he  abode  two  days  still  in  the  same  place  where  he 
was."  This  expression  applied  to  Jesus  seems  as  if  he 
hesitated,  or  was  reluctant  to  go  and  heal  him  who  was  sick. 
But  he  had  another  end  in  view.  It  was  necessary  he 
should  wait  those  two  days,  that  Lazarus  might  die ;  and 
thus  the  Jews  should  see,  not  a  resurrection  of  a  dying 
man  from  a  sick-bed,  but  the  resurrection  of  a  dead  man 
from  his  stony  sepulchre.  We  must  not,  therefore,  al- 
ways construe  delay  as  refusal.  This  delay  of  two  days 
was  not  denial.  We  sometimes  think,  if  we  ask  special 
mercies  of  God,  and  do  not  receive  them  for  weeks,  for 
months,  for  years,  that  he  has  not  heard  us.  But  that  may 
be  a  great  mistake.  He  has  heard,  and  he  is  about  to  be- 
stow the  mercy,  not  always  in  the  shape  in  which  you  asked 
it,  but  in  the  shape  which  he  sees  and  knows  will  be  most 
expedient  for  you. 


17G  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

Our  Lord  then  said  to  his  disciples,  "  Our  friend  Lazarus 
sleepeth  ;  but  I  go,  that  I  may  awake  him  out  of  sleep." 
The  disciples  thought  that  he  meant  sleep,  and  they  said, 
"  Well,  if  that  be  all,  it  is  all  very  satisfactory ;  we  are  quite 
sure  that  he  will  awake  refreshed."  "  Howbeit,  Jesus  spake 
of  his  death  ;  but  they  thought  that  he  had  spoken  of  taking 
of  rest  in  sleep.  Then  said  Jesus  unto  them  plainly,  Laza- 
rus is  dead."  How  beautiful  is  that  figure  under  which 
death  is  set  before  us  —  a  sleep  !  not  insensibility,  as  some 
think  death  to  be.  I  do  not  believe  that  in  the  deepest 
sleep  we  are  insensible.  We  forget  when  we  wake  what 
we  have  been  thinking  of  when  we  were  asleep  ;  but  I  have 
not  the  least  doubt  that  when  the  body  is  sound  asleep,  re- 
freshed and  invigorated  by  its  slumbers,  the  mind,  the  un- 
sleeping sentinel,  is  walking  the  country  in  which  it  was  the 
day  before,  or  the  sanctuary  in  which  it  was  the  Sunday 
before,  or  among  the  scenes  of  boyhood.  I  do  not  believe 
that  the  mind  is  ever  in  a  state  of  torpor,  or  that  it  ever 
ceases  to  be  conscious.  Sometimes  you  recollect  awake 
what  you  have  been  thinking  of  asleep ;  what  seem  like 
dreams  are  simply  the  mind  thinldng,  meditating,  recollect- 
ing, suggesting.  And  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  mind,  in- 
stead of  being  stupid  or  in  torpor  when  we  are  asleep,  is  in 
its  most  vigorous  state.  I  know  that  I  have  thought  on  sub- 
jects when  asleep,  and  had  dim  recollections  of  them  after- 
wards, far  more  magnificent  and  beautiful  than  ever  I  had 
when  awake.  And  in  proportion  as  the  soul  grows  distinct 
from,  and  independent  of,  the  outer  machinery  of  the  body 
by  which  it  is  oppi'essed  and  shut  down,  it  becomes  more 
vigorous,  more  clear  in  its  vision,  more  healthy  in  its  imag- 
inings, more  powerful  in  its  action,  and  more  capable  of 
intercourse  with  the  spiritual  world.  Sleep,  therefore,  is  not 
insensibility.  The  body  lies  down  in  the  grave,  and  like 
the  body  in  bed,  it  there  sleeps :  but  the  soul,  separate  from 
the  body  in  the  grave  as  it  is  from  the  body  in  bed  at  night 


JOHN  XI.  177 

and  asleep,  is  active,  conscious,  awake,  in  full  communion 
and  fellowship  and  intimacy  with  God  the  Maker.  I  do 
not  know  any  thing  that  reminds  one  of  death  more  than 
sleep.  I  have  a  feeling  —  it  may  be  imaginary  —  that  when 
I  am  awake  I  have  a  hold  of  my  life ;  but  when  I  lie  down 
to  sleep,  I  let  go  my  life,  and  can  grasp  it  no  more  ;  I  can 
then  only  lay  my  heart  on  the  Shepherd  of  Isi-ael,  who 
slumbereth  not  nor  sleepeth.  So  in  the  grave  the  body  will 
be  helpless ;  the  soul,  however,  will  be  free  ;  and  what  we 
call  dying  is  really  and  truly  only  beginning  to  live  an  un- 
fettered and  unshackled  life. 

When  Jesus  came  he  heard  that  he  had  lain  in  the  grave 
four  days.  It  is  stated  that  "  many  of  the  Jews  came  to 
Martha  and  Mary,  to  comfort  them  concerning  their  brother." 
And  as  soon  as  Martha  heard  of  Jesus  coming  to  them,  she 
ran  out  to  meet  him  ;  but  'Mary  sat  still  in  the  house.  It 
would  be  a  very  interesting  study  for  you  just  to  refer  to 
every  passage  in  the  Gospel  where  Martha  and  Mary  are 
alluded  to  ;  and  you  will  notice  how  thorough  is  the  identity 
of  each  character  throughout.  You  are  always  sure  that  it 
has  either  been  a  very  master  mind  that  has  conceived  a 
romance,  or  it  is  one  that  took  from  a  living  and  actual 
original,  Avhen  you  see  the  characters  in  incidental  circum- 
stances always  and  everywhere  retaining  what  is  called 
their  identity.  You  find  Martha  ever  the  active,  vigorous, 
busy  housewife ;  you  find  Mary  always  the  meditating 
Christian  and  devoted  student.  And  in  every  instance 
where  they  are  spoken  of,  there  is  something  said,  some 
slight  touch,  that  shows  you  it  is  the  same  Mary  and  the 
same  Martha  from  the  beginning  to  the  end.  When  Martha 
saw  Jesus,  she  said  to  him,  "  Lord,  if  thou  hadst  been  here, 
my  brother  had  not  died." 

Mark  the  faith  that  was  in  this,  and  notice  the  frailty  that 
was  in  it  also.  "  If  thou  hadst  been  here,  my  brother  had 
not  died ; "  as  much  as  to  say,  "  Thy  love  to  him  was  so 


178  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

great,  and  thy  power  as  a  physician  so  divine,  that  thou 
wouldst  have  raised  him  up  to  heahh.  But  then  it  needed 
tliy  personal  presence  ; "  not  knowing  that  tlie  arm  of  Jesus 
can  stretch  from  heaven  to  earth,  and  fi'om  earth  to  heaven. 
She  had  faith  in  his  love,  confidence  in  his  power  ;  but  she 
did  not  believe  that  a  word  spoken  at  a  distance  could  heal 
the  sick  or  raise  the  dead.  "  But,"  she  adds,  "  I  know  that 
even  now,  whatsoever  thou  wilt  ask  of  God,  Grod  will  give  it 
thee.  Jesus  saith  unto  her,"  in  simple  words,  "  Thy  brother 
shall  rise  again ; "  a  grand  and  blessed  truth,  that  never 
dawned  upon  the  world  till  Christ  taught  it.  And  Martha, 
who  had  been  well  taught  by  him,  said,  "  I  know  that  he 
shall  rise  again  in  the  resurrection  at  the  last  day."  She 
looked  for  a  resurrection.  "  Jesus  said  unto  her,  I  am  the 
resurrection,  and  the  life."  What  an  announcement !  The 
very  life  of  all  is  in  me.  My  word  shall  penetrate  every 
grave ;  my  power  shall  touch  the  cold  ashes  in  every  tomb, 
and  all  the  dead  of  six  thousand  years,  myriads  upon  myri- 
ads ;  some  whose  only  winding-sheet  is  the  sand  of  the  desert, 
some  whose  requiem  has  been  sung  only  by  the  waves  of 
the  desert  sea ;  some  that  have  been  devoured  by  the  beasts 
of  the  field  or  the  fishes  of  the  deep ;  some  buried  under 
bronze  or  under  green  sods,  some  by  the  highways,  and  some 
scattered  to  the  four  winds  of  heaven  ;  some  slain  and  buried 
at  the  Alma,  and  in  the  Crimea :  Jesus  will  speak,  and  every 
atom  of  the  scattered  dust  will  be  instinct  with  life,  and  re- 
ceive its  own  polarity ;  and  we  shall  rise  again,  this  mortal 
clothed  with  immortality,  this  corruptible  clothed  with  incor- 
ruptibility. When  he  said,  "  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the 
life,"  he  either  blasphemed,  or  he  was  what  we  know  he  is, 
the  mighty  God,  the  Prince  of  peace.  "  He  that  believeth 
in  me,  though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live ;  and  whoso- 
ever liveth  and  believeth  in  me  shall  never  die."  A  believer 
shall  never  die ;  he  shall  never  see  spiritual  death ;  and 
death  to  a  believer  is  not  annihilation  on  extinction,  as  I 


JOHN  XI.  179 

have  said,  but  transition,  change  of  state,  and  no  more. 
And  then  he  said,  "  Behevest  thou  this  ?  She  saith  unto 
him,  Yea,  Lord  ;  I  believe  that  thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son 
of  God,  which  should  come  into  the  world."  That  is  an 
ample  creed.  He  that  can  repeat  that  creed,  not  with  his 
hps  or  with  his  intellect,  but  with  his  living  heart,  is  a  true 
and  orthodox  Christian.  "  I  believe  that  thou  art  the 
anointed  Messiah,  the  Son  of  God  "  —  that  is,  God  — 
"  which  should  come  into  the  world."  When  she  had  so 
said,  she  went  her  way,  and  found  Mary  meditative,  studi- 
ous, or  reading,  and  said  to  her  secretly,  "  The  Master  is 
come  and  calleth  for  thee.  As  soon  as  she  heard  that,  she 
arose  quickly,"  threw  aside  her  studies,  whatever  they  were, 
"  and  came  unto  him." 

The  Jews  came  to  comfort  Mary  and  Martha  in  their 
sorrow,  because  of  the  death  of  their  brother.  They  were 
good  neighbors  ;  they  sympathized  with  the  sorrows  of  those 
that  were  near  them  ;  wherever  there  was  a  neighbor  that 
sutFered  there  was  one  to  comfort  and  to  sympathize  with 
that  sufferer.  Wherever  consolation  is  needed,  there  con- 
solation should  be  given  ;  and  if  you  know  of  a  suiFerer  of 
any  sort,  you  should  feel  that  it  is  your  privilege  to  go  and 
comfort  that  sufferer,  not  with  coarse  and  commonplace 
consolations,  but  with  a  text  from  the  Bible,  with  a  truth 
from  the  Gospel.  "  Then  when  Mary  was  come  where 
Jesus  was,  and  saw  him,  she  fell  down  at  his  feet,  saying 
unto  him,"  just  as  her  sister  Martha  had  said,  "  Lord,  if 
thou  hadst  been  here,  my  brother  had  not  died."  When 
Jesus  saw  her  weeping,  and  the  Jews  also  weeping,  "  he 
groaned  in  the  spirit,  and  was  troubled."  What  was  the 
cause  of  this  ?  Literally,  "  he  moaned  in  his  heart,  he  was 
disturbed  in  his  spirit."  Why  ?  Not  for  the  loss  of  Laza- 
rus, because  he  was  about  to  raise  him  again  ;  but,  no  doubt, 
he  moaned  in  his  heart  and  was  troubled  in  his  spirit,  when 
he  saw  the  terrible  havoc  that  sin  had  wrought ;  the  long 


180  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

procession  of  the  dead  from  Adam's  day  till  then,  and  from 
then  till  the  day  in  which  we  now  live ;  and  when  he  saw 
how  many  fair  flowers  death  had  cut  down,  how  many 
bright  homes  he  had  darkened,  how  many  ties  he  had  snap- 
ped in  sunder  —  when  he  saw  all  this,  Jesus  moaned  and 
was  troubled.  There  is  added  one  beautiful  text  —  evi- 
dence of  his  true  humanity,  his  real  brotherhood,  the  inten- 
sity of  his  friendship  and  his  love  —  a  text  most  eloquent, 
full  of  truth,  suggestive  of  many  sermons,  —  it  is  —  "  Jesus 
wept." 


CHAPTER  XI.   39. 

EEMOTAL    OF    GKAVE-STOKE.  MEANS  AND    MIEACLE.  —  DOCBTS  XrN- 

REASOXABLE. HUMILITT. GOd's  GLORT. CURISt's  MIRACLES, 

AND    TUOSE     OF     THE    APOSTLES. GOd's     PROVINCE    AND    MAN's. 

EFFECTS   OF    THE    MIRACLE.  EXPEDIEXCY. CHURCH   UXITT. 

DECAY     OF      THE     MOSLEM. KETURX     OP      JEWS. SIGNS     OF 

END. 

It  was  remarked,  "  Could  not  this  man,  which  opened 
the  eyes  of  the  blind,  have  caused  that  even  this  man  should 
not  have  died  ?  "  Jesus,  inattentive  or  regardless  rather  of 
the  remark  that  they  made,  captious  in  its  nature  as  to  what 
his  powers  were,  gives  the  commission,  "  Take  ye  away  the 
stone."  The  grave  of  Lazarus  was  a  cavity  in  a  rock ; 
against  that  cavity,  as  may  be  seen  from  remaining  tombs 
at  Petra  at  this  day,  a  very  massive  stone  was  rolled. 
The  stone  Jesus  commands  those  that  stood  by  to  take  away. 
This  was  done,  first  of  all,  that  there  might  be  no  possibility 
of  the  suspicion  of  collusion,  imposition,  or  of  any  misinter- 
pretation of  what  Jesus  was  just  about  to  do.  The  grave 
was  laid  open ;  the  dead,  lying  still  and  cold  and  silent  in 
its  recess,  was  visible  to  all ;  and  they  must  see  therefore 
that  there  was  no  trick,  as  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  would 
be  disposed  to  imagine,  but  that  all  was  done  by  the  pres- 
ence of  One,  who  preserves  the  living  and  can  quicken  the 
dead.  There  was  another  reason.  What  ordinary  means 
can  do,  extraordinary  power  is  not  summoned  to  effect.  He 
might  have  made  Lazarus  come  forth  at  once  in  resurrec- 
tion beauty  from  the  tomb,  and  the  stone  of  itself  roll  away  ; 
but  what  the  human  arm  can  do.  Omnipotence  does  not  do. 

16  (181) 


182  SCRIPTURK    READINGS. 

God  does  not  supersede,  but  strengthen  liuman  effort,  in  its 
own  province,  and  in  the  exercise  of  its  own  legitimate 
power.  Whenever  God  is  aboyt  to  do  a  miraculous  work, 
man  seems  to  delight  in  giving  expression  to  objections. 
Martha  makes  the  remai'k,  "  It  is  absurd  to  roll  away  the 
stone  ;  the  body  is  now,"  she  said,  "  undergoing  corruption, 
and  therefore  we  had  better  not  roll  away  the  stone.  And 
as  to  the  idea  of  finding  him  alive,"  as  she  thought  Jesus 
imagined,  "  the  thing  is  absurd  ;  the  body  is  going  to  decay ; 
there  is  no  chance  of  his  being  alive  ;  it  is  of  no  use  roll- 
ing away  the  stone  ;  he  will  rise  at  the  last  day,  —  but  live 
now,  that  is  out  of  the  question."  Thus  we  find  her  inter- 
posing her  scepticism,  yet  a  scepticism  that  confirms  the  truth, 
by  trying  to  prevent  a  great  Avork  that  should  manifest  the 
greatness  and  power  of  Jesus.  Plow  deplorable  is  the  state 
of  the  dead,  as  here  described  !  This  exquisite  organization 
of  ours,  so  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made,  must  in  a  few 
days  go  to  ruin,  have  the  worm  its  sister,  and  corruption  its 
mother,  so  that  they  that  loved  it  most  must  bury  it  out  of 
their  sight,  and  hide  it  from  the  eyes  of  all  mankind.  Jesus 
meekly  and  gently  rebuked  the  unbelief  of  Martha,  when 
he  said,  "  Said  I  not  unto  thee,  that  if  thou  wouldest  be- 
lieve, thou  shouldest  see  the  glory  of  God  ?  "  That  word, 
"  said  unto  thee,"  ought  to  have  been  sufficient  to  scatter  all 
unbelief  from  the  bosom  of  Martha,  and  to  enable  her,  in 
spite  of  nature's  impossibilities,  to  see  new  scope  for  the 
display  of  Omnipotence,  and  another  trophy  for  the  word  of 
the  Son  of  God.  "  Said  I  not  unto  thee  ?  "  Was  not  that 
enough  for  you,  Martha  ?  Why  should  your  doubts  be  felt, 
when  you  have  my  word  in  your  memory  and  before  you  ? 
She  thought  she  was  humble,  perhaps,  in  thinking  so.  We 
often  think  that  scepticism  or  unbelief  is  humility;  it  is 
really  not  so.  To  believe  Christ's  Avord  is  true  humility ; 
to  disbelieve  it  is  the  very  essence  of  infidelity,  scepticism, 
and  pride.     Jesus  states  what   was   the   great  object   and 


JOHN  xr.  183 

scope  of  this  miracle :  he  says,  "  That  thou  shouldest  see 
the  glory  of  God."  His  raising  Lazarus  from  the  dead  was 
incidentally  to  fill  up  a  gap  in  a  happy  family,  but  it  was 
directly  and  ultimately  to  manifest  the  glory  of  God.  The 
beneficence  that  the  sisters  felt  by  the  restoration  of  a  dead 
brother  was  only  an  incident  in  the  grand  transaction  that 
manifested  the  glory,  the  power,  the  love,  the  condescension 
of  God. 

Jesus  then,  we  are  told,  "  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  said,  Father, 
I  thank  thee  that  thou  hast  heard  me."  He  lifted  up  his 
eyes.  They  accused  him  of  doing  his  mii'acles  by  an  inspira- 
tion from  beneath  ;  he  lifted  up  his  eyes  to  show  that  his 
communion  Avas  with  an  influence  from  above.  And  he 
says,  "  Father,  I  thank  thee  that  thou  hast  heard  me." 
They  accused  him  of  blasphemy  because  he  said, "  I  am  the 
Son  of  God."  At  the  moment,  you  observe,  when  his  word 
is  clothing  itself  in  a  stupendous  deed  of  omnipotence,  he 
says,  "  Father  ; "  that  is  to  say,  in  his  power  acknowledging 
himself  the  Son  of  God,  acknowledging  God  his  Father,  the 
very  thing  for  Avhich  they  took  up  stones  to  stone  him ;  and 
the  Father  here,  by  a  deed  of  omnipotent  power,  admitting 
that  he  was  what  he  assumed  to  be  —  the  Son  of  God.  But 
how  remarkable  !  our  Saviour  expresses  thanks  to  the  Father 
for  hearing  what  he  had  just  asked.  He  s{\ys,  "  Father,  I 
thank  thee  that  thou  hast  heard  me."  But  Lazarus  was  not 
yet  raised  :  how  then  conld  he  say,  "  thou  hast  heard  me  ?  " 
Because  we  are  told,  "  I  knew  that  thou  hearest  me  always ; 
but  because  of  the  people  which  stand  by  I  said  it,  that  they 
may  believe."  He  used  this  form  of  petition,  not  because 
necessary,  but  because  it  taught  the  people  God's  relation- 
ship to  him  and  his  relationship  to  God,  and  proved  by  a 
deed  that  that  relationship  was  real.  "  And  when  he  thus 
had  spoken,  he  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  Lazarus,  come  forth." 
Why  with  a  loud  voice  ?  When  we  are  extremely  aroused, 
we  are  apt  to  speak  aloud ;  or  it  may  have  been  with  a  loud 


184  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

t 

voice  because  he  wished  all  distinctly  to  hear,  that  there 
might  be, no  mistake  that  the  coming  forth  of  the  dead  Laz- 
arus was  a  response  to  the  bidding  of  the  living  Christ  there 
present.  Let  us  observe  the  language  he  employs.  He 
says,  "  Lazarus,  come  forth."  He  does  not  say,  "  Lazarus, 
revive,"  as  if  Lazarus  had  been  in  a  state  of  suspended  be- 
ing ;  but,  "  Lazarus,  come  forth,"  implying  that  the  soul  of 
Lazarus,  separated  fi'om  his  body,  was  living,  conscious,  and 
within  the  sound  of  the  voice  of  Him  whom  all  things  obey. 
And  the  instant  that  he  said,  "  Come  forth,"  that  instant  the 
departed  soul  came  forth  from  the  realms  of  space,  took 
possession  of  its  bodily  tenement  of  clay ;  and  raised,  re- 
vived, resuscitated,  glorious  with  life,  Lazarus  came  forth, 
ready  to  mingle  again  with  the  ranks  of  living  men.  What 
an  evidence  is  there  here  of  the  finger  and  the  presence  of 
God !  I  need  no  other  miracle  to  prove  Deity  than  this. 
He  did  not  say,  "  In  the  name  of  another,  come  forth  ; "  but 
he  said  in  his  own  name,  expressing  his  own  will,  exercising 
his  own  unborrowed  authority,  "  Lazarus,  come  forth." 

When  an  apostle  wrought  miracles,  he  always  did  them 
in  the  name  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  because  his  was  a  dele- 
gated authority  ;  but  when  Jesus  wrought  a  miracle,  he 
spoke  on  his  own  authority :  and  that  single  contrast  is  to 
me  decisive,  if  there  were  no  other  proof,  that  the  apostle, 
however  exalted,  was  a  man  —  that  the  Messiah,  however 
lowly  he  looked,  was  the  mighty  God,  the  Prince  of 
Peace. 

"  And  he  that  was  dead,"  we  are  told,  "  came  forth,  bound 
hand  and  foot  with  grave-clothes,  and  his  face  was  bound 
about  with  a  napkin,"  just  as  he  had  been  laid  by  those  that 
placed  him  in  the  grave.  "Jesus  said  unto  them,  Loose 
him  and  let  him  go.  Again  we  see  that  where  human  hands 
are  sufficient,  a  divine  hand  does  not  interfere.  He  might 
not  only  have  quickened  his  dead  heart,  and  set  into  circu- 
lation the  lifeblood ;  but  the  same  word  might  have  carried 


.Tonx  XI.  185 

on  its  wings  a  power  equal  to  the  removal  of  the  bandages 
and  sear  cloths  of  the  tomb.  But  it  did  not.  Lazarus, 
after  being  raised,  had  the  napkin  taken  from  his  face,  the 
bandages  from  his  hands  and  feet,  that  he  might  walk  and 
move.  So  that  there  is  a  province  in  all  God's  dealings, 
and  in  every  part  of  his  economy,  where  man  can  do  some- 
thing, and  there  is  a  pi-ovince  where  man  can  do  nothing. 
In  disease  man  can  do  a  great  deal ;  he  can  remove  all  the 
irritating  elements  that  may  injure  ;  he  may  apply  precious 
balms  and  bandages  that  may  tend  to  protect  and  defend ; 
but  man  cannot  give  that  inner  life  to  the  broken  limb,  that 
restorative  power  to  the  diseased  part,  that  Avill  make  it 
whole  as  it  Avas  before.  And  so,  in  the  Church  of  Christ, 
there  is  a  part  where  the  minister  can  do  something.  He 
can  sympathize,  he  can  preach,  he  can  distribute  the  bread 
and  wine  at  the  communion  table,  he  can  sprinkle  water  on 
the  brow ;  but  he  cannot  regenerate  the  heart,  he  cannot 
sanctify  and  light  up  the  soul.  There  is  a  province  where 
the  minister  can  do  much,  there  is  a  province  where  the 
minister  can  do  nothing  ;  and  the  instant  you  try  to  step 
into  God's  province  out  of  your  own,  you  do  mischief  and  no 
possible  good.  So  that  we  shall  find,  in  all  God's  dealings 
with  man,  there  is  a  province  in  which  we  can  do  much ; 
and  if  Ave  do  not  fulfil  what  devolves  upon  us  in  that  prov- 
ince, whether  God  do  it  or  not,  Ave  have  no  right  to  expect 
that  he  Avill  do  Avhat  is  his  prerogative.  The  farmer,  for  in- 
stance, sows  the  seed  in  spring  —  that  is  his  province  ;  but 
God  makes  that  seed  germinate  and  bud,  and  gives  showers, 
and  sunshine,  and  fertility  to  the  soil  —  that  is  God's  prov- 
ince. But  if  man  do  not  sow  the  seed,  there  will  be  no 
harvest ;  if  God  do  not  bless  the  budding  of  the  seed,  there 
will  be  no  harvest.  There  is  a  terrestrial  Avork  Avhere  man 
can  do  much  ;  there  is  a  celestial  Avork  Avhere  man  can  do 
nothing.  Let  us  do  Avhat  is  ours  in  his  strength,  thankful 
for  it ;  but  let  us  never  forget  to  seek  from  him  the  exercise 
16* 


186  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

of  what  is  his,  without  which  Paul  may  plant,  and  Apollos 
water,  and  all  shall  yet  be  in  vain. 

"  Then  many  of  the  Jews  which  came  to  Mary,  and  had 
seen  the  things  which  Jesus  did,  believed  on  him."  No 
wonder  that  tliey  thus  believed  on  Him  who  could  raise  the 
dead.  But  how  must  the  Sadducees  have  been  startled  ! 
First,  the  Sadducees  were  a  sect  that  denied  the  resurrec- 
tion. They  held  that  it  was  absurd  nonsense  that  a  dead 
body  could  ever  be  raised  from  the  grave.  What  a  thrilling 
refutation  of  their  creed  was  this  fact,  more  eloquent  than 
argument,  that  one  body  has  died,  and  by  a  word  been  thus 
raised  from  the  dead  !  Its  influence  upon  the  Pharisees 
was  of  another  description.  The  Pharisees  believed  in  the 
resurrection,  but  then  they  saw  that  this  was  a  jDroof  that 
Jesus  was  what  he  professed  to  be,  the  Messiah.  In  the 
ninth  chapter  of  this  Gospel,  you  will  recollect  how  they 
cavilled  because  he  had  opened  the  eyes  of  one  who  was 
born  blind.  Throughout  the  whole  of  that  chapter  the 
Pharisees  endeavored,  with  all  the  subtilty  and  sophistry  of 
consummate  ecclesiastics,  to  prove  that  Jesus  had  not  opened 
the  man's  eyes,  that  the  man  was  not  born  blind,  that  his 
sight  could  not  have  been  given  by  Jesus  ;  and  even  when 
the  man  told  them  the  simple  facts,  they  could  not,  because 
they  would  not,  believe.  Well  now,  instead  of  finding  a 
man's  eyes  opened  who  was  born  blind,  they  find  a  man's 
life  restored  after  he  had  been  acknowledged  to  be  dead, 
and  the  fingers  of  death  had  begun  to  taint  and  to  touch  the 
earthly  tenement.  They  must  therefore  have  been  more 
startled  than  ever,  and  have  had  impressed  upon  them  the 
irresistible  and  irrefragable  conviction  that  Jesus  Christ  was 
God,  the  only  Messiah.  "  Some  of  the  Jews  went  their 
ways  to  the  Pharisees,  and  told  them  what  things  Jesus  had 
done."  They  went  out  of  spite,  but  though  they  went  out 
of  spite,  they  were  nevertheless  thereby  led  to  proclaim  the 
deed  that  proved  who  Jesus  was.     Now,  the  moment  that 


JOHN   XI.  187 

the  chief  priests  heard  of  it,  •'  they  gathered  a  council,  and 
said,  What  do  we  ?  for  this  man  doeth  many  miracles." 
What  an  awful  sentiment  is  here !  He  does  miracles. 
They  had  carped  and  cavilled  ;  but  now  they  find  it  no 
longer  possible  to  deny  that  he  did  supernatural  work,  which 
God  alone  could  do. 

Now,  the  pi'oper  conclusion  that  they  ought  to  have  come 
to  from  the  miracles  was,  "  This  is  the  Messiah ;  this  is  the 
great  Prophet  that  should  come  into  the  world ;  this  is  the 
Son  of  God,  the  Prince  of  Peace,  the  mighty  God,  the 
Father  of  the  age  to  come."  But  instead  of  that,  with  all 
the  enmity  with  which  their  hearts  were  instinct,  they  plotted 
and  schemed  to  put  to  death  him  who  was  the  Lord  of  life, 
the  great  IMessiah.  When  they  put  the  question,  "  What 
shall  we  do  ?  "  in  the  council,  they  concluded  that  "  If  we 
let  him  thus  alone,  all  men  will  believe  on  him  ;  and  the 
Romans  shall  come  and  take  away  both  our  place  and 
nation."  Now,  they  did  not  say,  "  He  is  the  Messiah,  and 
proves  himself  to  be  so,  therefore  we  will  admit  him  to  be 
so ; "  but,  satisfied  that  he  had  credentials  that  they  could 
not  dispute,  and  that  he  was  accompanied  by  deeds  that  de- 
monstrably proved  that  he  was  the  Son  of  God,  they  said, 
"  Now  it  is  quite  plain  we  can  argue  no  more ;  we  have  no 
case  or  reason  on  our  side ;  but  if  we  let  him  alone  he  will 
gain  power,  the  Romans  will  be  exasperated,  and  they  will 
come  and  take  away  our  nation."  They  acted  on  what  is 
called  expediency,  always  a  false  mode  of  action.  They 
thought,  "  If  we  let  him  alone,  he  will  gain  such  power  that 
the  Romans  will  be  enraged,  and  they  will  "see  a  rival  to 
Csesar ;  and  they  will  come  and  sweep  away  our  name  and 
nation."  And,  therefore,  they  took  steps  to  prevent  this ; 
but  the  very  steps  they  took  to  prevent  the  nation's  being 
swept  away,  became  in  the  end  the  very  steps  which  pre- 
cipitated its  doom  the  more  speedily.  We  may  always  bo 
assured  that  the  path  of  principle  is  always  expedient ;  that 


188  SCRIPTURE    RKADIXGS. 

the  path  of  expediency  is  rarely  so.  Principle  is  always 
expedient ;  expediency  which  is  not  principle  is  the  most  in- 
expedient thing  in  the  %Yorld.  Follow  what  is  right,  and 
then  expediency  will  shine  upon  your  footsteps  ;  follow  what 
is  profitable,  plausible,  popular,  agreeable,  at  the  expense 
and  sacrifice  of  principle,  and  you  will  miss  the  end  you 
have  in  view,  and  you  will  injure  your  own  soul  and  safety 
at  the  same  time.  The  Jews,  in  attempting  to  avert  what 
they  feared  as  a  calamity,  did  what  brought  that  calamity 
upon  them  and  theirs  —  a  crushing  load  to  this  very  day. 
"  And  one  of  them,  named  Caiaphas,  being  the  high-priest 
that  same  year,  said  unto  them,  Ye  know  nothing  at  all." 
He  was  evidently  vain,  conceited,  self-confident;  for  the 
high-priest  of  the  Jews  had  miserably  degenerated ;  the 
ofiice  was  given  to  the  highest  bidder,  to  the  wealthiest  com- 
petitor, or  to  the  person  that  had  the  greatest  influence  at 
court.  And  he  said,  "  You  do  not  consider  that  it  is  ex- 
pedient for  us  that  one  man  should  die  for  the  people,  and 
that  the  whole  nation  perish  not."  Now,  this  seems  a  very 
remarkable  sentiment,  and  there  was  a  great  deal  of  truth 
in  it.  I  think  he  meant,  "  You  do  not  see  that  it  is  better  to 
kill  this  man,  in  order  that  we  may  avert  the  doom  of  the 
whole  nation."  But  when  he  said  so,  he  breathed  an  un- 
conscious prophecy.  He  announced  a  truth,  the  extent  of 
which  and  the  range  of  Avhich  he  did  not  see.  He  said,  "  It 
is  expedient  for  us  that  one  man  should  die  for  the  people, 
and  that  the  whole  nation  perish  not."  What  a  just  senti- 
ment !  the  idea  of  atonement  cleai-ly  in  it ;  but  a  very  dif- 
ferent atonement  he  looked  for  from  that  which  was  about 
to  be  made.  And  here  John  adds,  "  This  spake  he  not  of 
himself:  but  being  high-priest  that  year,  he  prophesied  that 
Jesus  should  die  for  that  nation."  Kow,  it  has  been  asserted 
by  the  members  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  that  the  high-priest 
in  virtue  of  his  office  spoke  truth,  though  a  bad  and  corrupt 
man ;  that,  therefore,  the  Church  may  be  in  its  morals  most 


joiix  XI.  189 

corrupt,  and  yet  in  its  doctrine  may  not  be  wrong  notwith- 
standing. But  it  is  not  here  taught  that  the  high-priest,  in- 
spired by  God,  uttered  a  prophecy  as  Isaiah  did ;  but  that, 
in  uttering  his  own  sentiment  that  one  man  whom  he  sup- 
posed to  be  a  criminal  should  be  sacrificed,  lest  the  nation 
should  perish,  he  unintentionally  and  undesignedly  announced 
a  truth  that  was  in  itself  divine,  scriptural,  and  true.  He 
spoke  not  of  himself;  it  was  overruled  by  God  to  express  a 
divine  and  a  blessed  truth,  namely,  that  one  man,  that 
is,  Jesus,  should  die  for  the  people.  Then  John  adds, 
"And  not  for  that  nation  only,  but  that  also  he  should 
gather  together  in  one  the  children  of  God  that  were  scat- 
tered abroad." 

Wliat  a  beautiful  thought  is  here !  —  Christianity  first 
overflowing  the  national  cistern,  spreading  its  bright  waves 
over  every  land;  —  "not  for  that  nation  only,  but  for  all 
God's  children  scattered  abroad,  that  he  should  gather  them 
into  one."  See  the  effect  of  the  preached  Gospel  —  gather- 
ing people  into  one.  See,  secondly,  the  true  unity  of  the 
Church  of  Christ ;  not  unity  in  form,  not  unity  in  discipline, 
not  unity  in  government,  but  unity  with  one  head,  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  The  unity  of  the  Church  is  most  admirably 
kept  in  its  forms  by  the  Church  of  Rome.  She  has  one 
ecclesiastical  head,  and  all  differences  in  discipline,  in  orders, 
are  forgiven  on  condition  that  they  all  be  gathered  together, 
looking  to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  the  vicar  of  Christ.  This 
is  just  the  true  Church  brought  down  to  earth,  materialized, 
lowered,  distorted.  The  true  Church  is  all  Christians,  what- 
ever be  their  differences  in  discipline,  looking  to  one  head, 
that  is,  Christ.  "  That  he  should  gather  in  one  the  children 
of  God  that  were  scattered  abroad."  And  so,  in  conformity 
to  the  nature  of  the  dispensation  in  which  we  live,  what  is 
the  Gospel  doing  now  ?  Not  evangelizing  the  whole  earth, 
but  gathering  out  of  the  world  a  people  for  Christ.  It  is 
very  remarkable  that  the  preaching  of  the  blessed  Gospel 


190  SCRIPTURK   READINGS. 

among  all  nations  is  for  a  witness ;  and  then  shall  the  end 
come.  It  is  to  bring  a  people  out  of  the  world.  I  do  not 
expect,  nor  does  any  one,  that  by  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  every  one  will  be  converted.  We  see  it  as  a  matter- 
of-fact  that  it  is  not  so,  and  there  is  no  promise  that  it  will 
be  so  before  Christ  come.  "We  are  now  preaching  for  God's 
jDeople  scattered  abroad  —  that  is,  speaking  the  Gospel  to 
all ;  but  only  here  and  there,  one,  two,  and  thi-ee  believe, 
are  saved,  and  are  happy.  And  what  signs  do  we  see  at 
this  moment  that  this  Gospel  has  been  preached  to  all 
nations,  and  that  the  end  is  about  to  come  ?  The  ruin  of 
the  Turkish  empire,  as  a  religious  power,  is  now,  if  not  ac- 
complished, just  at  our  doors.  How  clearly  has  the  Eu- 
phrates been  drying  up  !  The  last  scattered  pools  are  in 
the  channel,  the  last  drops  are  there ;  by  and  by  there 
will  be  its  dry  channel,  and  there  and  then  will  be  heard 
the  signal  tread  of  God's  ancient  ones,  gathered  from  all  the 
ends  of  the  world,  marching  in  an  exodus,  in  comparison  of 
which  their  first  exodus  from  Egypt  to  Israel  was  mean,  and 
poor,  and  paltry.  And  while  these  things  are  taking  place 
upon  the  earth,  let  us  learn  how  true  God's  word  is ;  let  us 
see  God  in  the  providential  government  of  the  world,  and 
that  he  who  quickens  the  dead,  and  also  inspired  the  Scrip- 
ture, reigneth.  "  The  Lord  reigneth  "  is  just  as  true  this 
very  day  as  it  was  when  it  was  first  written :  and  we  can 
see  God's  hand  in  the  world  just  as  we  can  read  God's 
word  in  the  Bible.  God  is  not  shut  up  in  the  Bible,  but  he 
is  acting  in  the  world ;  and  every  day  he  is  translating  what 
is  written  in  the  word  of  the  Bible  into  what  is  done  in  the 
world  of  providence. 

May  we  be  of  those  that  are  gathered  together  unto 
Him !  and  unto  his  name  be  glory,  and  thanksgiving,  and 
praise. 


joiix  XI.  191 

Note.  —  [2-t.]  She  undcrstaiuls  the  words  rightly,  but  gently  repels 
the  insufficient  comfort  of  his  ultimate  resurrection. 

[25,  2G.]  These  words,  as  Sticr  observes,  are  the  central  point  of 
the  history — the  great  testimony  to  himself,  of  which  the  subsequent 
miracle  is  the  proof.  The  intention  of  the  saying  seems  to  have  been, 
to  awaken  in  Martha  the  fiiith,  that  he  could  raise  her  brother  from 
the  dead,  in  its  highest  and  proper  form.  This  he  does  by  announce 
ing  himself  as  "  the  Resurrection"  {q.  d.  That  resurrection  in  the  last 
day  shall  be  only  by  my  power,  and  therefore  I  can  raise  now  as  well), 
and  more  than  that,  "  the  Life  itself:  so  that  he  that  believeth  in  me," 
(=  Lazarus,  in  her  mind,)  "  even  though  he  have  died,"  {unedavrj, 
past,)  "  shall  live  ;  and  he  that  liveth,  and  believeth  in  me,  shall  never 
die ; "  i.  e.  "  faith  in  me  is  the  source  of  life  both  here  and  hereafter  ; 
and  those  who  have  it  have  life,  so  that  they  shall  never  die ;  "  — 
physical  death  being  overlooked  and  disregarded,  in  comparison  with 
that  which  is  really  and  only  death.  — Alford. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

HOSPITALITY     OF     FEIENDS.  LAZARUS     AT     TABLE.  SILENCE     OF 

SCRIPTURE  ON  MERELY  CURIOUS  QUESTIONS.  — PERFUME  OF  LOVE. 
THE  POOR. PROPHETIC  LIBERALITY.  ATTEMPT  OF  PHARI- 
SEES TO  KILL  LAZARUS.  — RESULTS  OF   DEATH  OF  CHRIST. THE 

world's  CRISES. PROPHECY.  COWARDLY  CONVICTIONS. 

The  chapter  opens  with  an  incident  in  the  life  of  Jesus 
not  destitute  of  very  precious  instruction.  It  appears  tliat 
when  Jesus  was  come  to  Bethany,  where  Lazarus  was  which 
had  been  dead,  whom  he  raised  from  the  grave,  that  tliey, 
to  show  him  all  the  respect  that  they  thought  due  to  an  illus- 
trious teacher  —  for  more  than  that  some  of  them  did  not 
recognize  him  to  be  —  made  him  a  supper,  to  which  he  was 
invited  as  an  act  of  hospitality,  and  INIartha,  as  we  find  her 
character  throughout  the  Gospels,  served  ;  "  but  Lazarus 
was  one  of  them  that  sat  at  the  table  with  him."  This 
anecdote  was  striking  proof  that  Lazarus  was  really  raised 
from  the  dead,  that  it  was  no  deception  of  an  hour,  but  a 
deed  of  power  followed  by  perfect,  lasting,  and  unequivocal 
proof.  We  find,  what  strikes  one  as  no  slight  evidence  of 
the  inspiration  of  this  book,  nothing  said  by  Lazarus,  after 
his  resurrection  from  the  dead,  of  the  process  he  had  gone 
through,  of  the  scenes  he  had  witnessed,  of  the  blessings  he 
had  experienced ;  and  yet  these  are  all  points  which  we 
long  and  thirst  to  know  —  which  it  would  gratify  our  curiosity 
to  know.  But  as  this  book  was  not  written  to  gratify  the 
curiosity  of  men,  but  to  enlighten  their  minds,  and  win  their 
hearts  to  the  Saviour,  its  silence  upon  curious  questions  is 

(192) 


joiix  XII.  193 

as  great  evidence  of  its  divinity  as  its  eloquence  upon  ques- 
tions that  are  truly  good  for  u>.  "We  find  on  this  occasion 
that  Mary  —  the  contein])lative  Mary,  whose  character  was 
so  completely  a  contrast  to  that  of  Martha  —  to  express  the 
love  that  she  felt,  took  a  precious  perfume,  a  fragrant  or 
aromatic  oil,  and  poured  it  u^jon  the  feet  of  Jesus,  and  wiped 
them  with  her  hair,  and  the  whole  house  was  filled  with  its 
perfume.  A  miserable,  narrow-minded,  and  avaricious 
traitor,  when  he  saw  this,  instantly  said,  "  What  a  pity  to 
waste  the  perfume !  Might  it  not  have  been  sold,  and  bene- 
fited the  poor  ?  "  Now,  even  if  he  had  said  this  from  the 
heart,  it  would  have  been  wrong.  It  does  not  follow  that 
the  poor  will  not  be  benefited,  because  they  that  have,  live 
according  to  the  state  in  which  God  in  his  providence  has 
placed  them.  It  does  not  follow  that  the  person  that  lives 
in  the  greatest  splendor,  provided  that  splendor  be  suitable 
to  his  or  her  rank,  neglects  the  poor  ;  or  if  that  person  were 
to  give  up  the  noble  dwelling,  and  to  live  in  a  lowly  hut, 
that  the  poor  would  thereby  get  the  benefit.  I  do  not  think 
they  would.  That  precious  perfume  had  many  fingers  busy 
in  its  preparation  ;  it  had  the  ships  of  Tarshish,  and  Tyre, 
and  the  isles,  bringing  it  from  afar ;  it  had  perfumes  of  the 
rarest  kind,  that  were  bought  and  sold  for  a  profit,  and  pre- 
pared by  toil  and  skill,  all  of  which  had  their  payment  and 
their  equivalent.  And,  perhaps,  by  taking  that  fresh  bottle 
of  fragrant  oil,  and  pouring  it  on  the  feet  of  Jesus,  she  did 
not  deny  the  poor  what  the  poor  needed,  but  contributed 
more  substantially  to  the  poor  than  if  she  had  never  bought 
it,  or  none  had  sold  so  great  and  obvious  a  luxury.  We  find 
it  as  matter-of-fact,  that  all  classes  are  most  benefited  by 
each  living  in  its  own  sphere,  and  lending  from  that  sphere 
a  helping  hand  to  everybody  that  needs  it.  But  the  argu- 
ment here  was,  that  the  surrender  of  what  was  bought  would 
be  the  benefit  of  the  poor ;  while  I  believe  the  proper  use 
of  Avhat  we  have  is  the  benefit  of  the  poor.     If  every  one 

17 


194  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

were  to  wear  seal-skins,  like  our  forefathers  eighteen  hun- 
dred years  ago  in  this  land,  what  Avould  become  of  all  the 
cloth  work  of  Leeds  and  of  the  west  of  England  ?  If  every 
lady  were  to  wear  cotton,  what  would  become  of  all  the  silk 
manufactories?  And  yet  the  spirit  of  Judas  would  say, 
"  Why  wear  that  silk  dress  ?  INlight  it  not  be  sold  at  a  profit, 
and  given  to  the  poor  ? "  The  poor  would  not  really  be 
benefited  ;  but  the  very  reverse.  It  is  only  by  having  a 
correct  estimate  of  social  life,  that  we  can  see  how  poor,  and 
mean,  and  narrow  is  such  a  remark  as  that  which  was  made 
by  a  traitor,  a  remark  of  which  many  plagiarisms  have  been 
adopted  in  every  age,  and  century,  and  country  of  the 
"world.  However,  even  Judas'  remark  was  not  genuine  — 
it  was  not  a  sincere  one.  He  said  that  it  would  have  been 
much  better  if,  instead  of  wasting  it,  the  price  of  it  had 
been  put  into  his  bag ;  not  that  he  cared  for  the  poor,  but 
that  he  wanted  to  enrich  himself.  How  very  often  have 
most  beautiful  aphorisms  been  mere  covers  to  wicked  de- 
signs !  "  The  rights  of  the  people  "  is  a  word  that  we  hear 
sometimes  on  the  lips  of  men,  who  do  not  care  one  fig  for 
the  comfort  of  the  people.  "  The  benefit  of  the  poor  "  is 
another  aphorism  on  the  lips  of  men,  who  do  not  care  at  all 
for  the  benefit  of  the  poor.  The  finest  and  the  noblest 
maxims  are  often  used  as  mere  coloring  for  the  most  wicked 
and  unprincipled  designs  ;  not  by  good  men  —  that  is  impos- 
sible —  but  by  bad  men  ;  for  there  was  a  Judas  among  the 
apostles,  and  there  is  a  Judas  in  every  country  and  class  of 
mankind  to  the  present  day  still. 

But  Jesus  stepped  in  ;  and  mai'k,  again,  how  exquisitely 
striking  is  what  I  have  ventured  to  call,  with  real  reverence, 
the  common  sense  that  runs  through  the  Bible  !  Jesus  did 
not  concur  with  the  sentiment  of  Judas  ;  he  did  not  even, 
though  he  could,  trace  the  sentiment  to  its  source ;  he  did 
not  even  condemn  him ;  but  with  that  gentleness  which  irri- 
tated none,  and  which  conveyed  truth  that  must  be  edifying 


JOHN   xir.  195 

to  all  that  beard  it,  he  said,  "  Let  her  alone  ;  the  motive  is 
so  good,  the  design  that  she  has  in  view  is  so  exalted,  that 
even  if  there  wei-e  what  seems  to  you  a  little  waste,  she  has 
done  it  with  a  prophetic  anticii)ation  of  an  act  —  my  death, 
my  burial  —  an  act  which  will  tell  more  upon  the  ages  to 
come  than  all  that  has  transpired  in  the  rest  of  the  world 
before.  She  has  done  it  to  my  burial."  Whatever,  there- 
fore, honors  Jesus  is  beautiful.  I  can  conceive  many  a  one 
who  buys  the  choicest  ornaments,  from  the  purest  motives. 
We  may  judge  it  unnecessary  or  useless,  but  they  have  done 
it  from  pure  motives ;  they  have  done  it,  however  feebly,  to 
serve  the  blessed  Master.  Let  us  not  condemn  them,  if  we 
know  and  have  learned  the  more  excellent  Avay.  While  it 
is  true  that  a  good  motive  does  not  consecrate  a  bad  deed, 
yet  a  good  motive  does  consecrate  a  deed  which  in  itself  is 
neither  good  nor  evil. 

Jesus  added  also,  "  The  poor  always  ye  have  with  you  ; 
but  me  ye  have  not  always."  Now  this  is  one  of  those 
maxims  that  mean  more  than  the  expression  teaches ;  it  de- 
notes that  distinctions  of  class  and  of  rank  will  always  exist. 
You  remember  it  is  predicted  in  tlie  Book  of  Deuteronomy, 
*'  The  poor  shall  never  cease  out  of  the  land  ;"  and  here  it 
is  said,  "  The  poor  ye  have  always."  You  never  can  make 
it  otherwise.  There  are  all  sorts  of  plans,  and  schemes,  and 
movements,  and  arrangements  in  order  to  put  an  end  to  it, 
but  none  ever  have  succeeded.  There  will  be  men  that 
meet  with  misfortunes  which  they  cannot  master ;  there 
will  be  men  who  are  idle  while  others  will  be  busy,  feeble 
Avhile  others  are  strong,  stupid  while  others  are  wise ;  and 
these  elements  will  make  a  difference  in  society  it  is  utterly 
impossible  to  level.  And,  generally  speaking,  those  that  try 
to  make  all  society  one  vast  macadamized  road,  do  not  mean 
so  much  to  lift  to  their  own  level  those  that  are  below,  as  to 
drag  down  to  their  own  level  those  that  are  above.  A  great 
maxim  is  laid  down,  that  the  poor  will  be  always.     Let  us 


196  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

minister  to  them,  let  us  help  them ;  not  refusing  help  to  a 
poor  man  because  his  own  misdoing  has  made  him  poor. 
His  crimes  belong  to  God's  province ;  his  j)Overty  is  a  call 
for  man's  pity,  compassion,  and  relief. 

"VVe  read  next  that  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  were  so  ex- 
asperated at  this  that  they  did  —  what  ?  They  "  consulted 
that  they  might  put  Lazarus  also  to  death."  What  an 
awful  thing  is  this,  that  those  that  saw  the  miracle,  that  saw 
Lazarus  raised  from  the  dead,  would  even  try  to  put  him  to 
death  !  How  absurd  !  Augustine  makes  the  truly  admira- 
ble remark,  "  If  they  had  thought,  they  w^ould  have  seen 
that  He  who  could  raise  him  from  the  dead  when  he  died 
by  disease,  could  raise  him  again  from  the  dead  if  they 
killed  him  by  violence  ;  "  and  thus  to  attempt  to  put  Laz- 
arus to  death  to  hide  the  splendor  of  a  miracle,  was  an  ex- 
travagant pitch  of  absurdity.  Generally  speaking,  and  it  is 
a  very  remarkable  fact,  goodness  in  the  heart  helps  to  give 
wisdom  to  the  understanding ;  but  wherever  the  heart  is  ac- 
tuated by  evil  passions,  even  the  intellect  fails  to  decide 
correctly,  purely,  and  truly. 

After  this,  we  read  that  "  the  Pharisees  said  among  them- 
selves, Perceive  ye  how  ye  prevail  nothing  ?  behold,  the 
world  is  gone  after  him  ;  "  an  expression  for  "  everybody  is 
following  him."  "  And  certain  Hellenists  "  —  called  here 
"  Greeks,"  that  is  Jews  that  came  from  Greece,  whose  native 
country  was  there,  or  proselytes  from  the  Gentiles  to  the 
synagogue  of  the  Jews — came  to  see  Jesus,  having  heard 
of  the  wonderful  things  that  he  had  done.  Jesus  then  told 
them  that  the  hour  was  come  when  he  should  be  glorified, 
and  he  illustrates  his  meaning  by  a  very  clear  simile :  "  Ex- 
cept a  corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it  abideth 
alone  :  but  if  it  die,  it  bringeth  forth  much  fruit."  One  seed 
cast  into  the  earth  grows  into  a  stalk  that  bears  ten,  twenty, 
thirty,  forty  seeds  ;  and  these  seeds  may  be  planted  again, 
till  golden  harvests,  that  fill  the  granaries  of  the  earth,  spring 


JOHN  XII.  197 

from  the  seed  tliat  died  in  the  earth.  So,  says  Jesus,  I  sliall 
sink  into  the  grave,  crucified  and  dead ;  but  the  resuh  of 
my  death  will  be  such  a  harvest  of  living  souls  that  the 
angels  will  come  to  reap  it,  and  heaven  shall  be  replenished 
by  the  product  of  my  cross  in  the  world  on  the  judgment- 
day.  He  then  told  them,  in  very  solemn  language,  "  He 
that  loveth  his  life  shall  lose  it ; "  that  is,  he  that  to  save  his 
life  will  have  recourse  to  schemes  that  are  sinful  will  lose  it. 
"  He  that  hateth  his  life  "  —  loveth  it  less  than  the  life  eter- 
nal —  shall  gain  it.  "  If  any  man  serve  me,  let  him  ibllow 
me."  He  then  exclaims,  evidently  under  a  dee^J  sense  of 
agony,  "  Now  is  my  soul  troubled."  The  word  is  extremely 
strong  in  the  original ;  "  stirred  from  its  depths,"  as  a  pool 
or  the  sea  might  be  stirred  up,  by  the  volcano  below  or  the 
storm  above.  And  he  exclaims,  within  the  garden,  "Father, 
save  me  from  this  hour : "  but  then  he  stops  — "  For  this 
cause  came  I  unto  this  hour."  Here  is  the  human  crying 
in  its  agony,  "  Father,  save  me  from  tliis  hour  ; "  but  above 
it  is  the  divine,  acquiescing  in  God's  will ;  "  but  for  this  very 
cause  came  I  into  the  w^orld  ; "  and  therefore  I  will  no 
longer  say,  "  Save  me,"  but  I  will  say,  "  Father,  glorify  thy 
name."  And  "  a  voice  from  heaven,"  like  an  echo  to  his 
expectation,  "  came,  saying,  I  have  both  glorified  it,  and  will 
glorify  it  again."  He  then  says,  "  Now  is  the  judgment  of 
this  world."  The  word  "judgment"  is  not  a  happy  render- 
ing of  the  original ;  it  is  Kplaic,  the  very  same  Greek  word 
which  we  retain  in  our  own  language  when  we  say,  there  is 
come  a  crisis  ;  and  he  says,  "  Now  is  the  crisis  of  this  world  ;" 
that  is  —  Now  is  that  moment  come  when,  if  I  persevere, 
the  world  shall  be  lighted  and  lifted  up ;  if  I  stop  short  the 
world  is  lost  for  ever.  This  is  the  crisis  into  which  is  con- 
densed the  destiny  or  future  restoration  or  ruin  of  the 
world.  And  then  he  adds,  "  And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from 
the  earth,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me  ;  "  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up 
from  the  earth  on  the  cross  a  sacrifice  for  sin,  the  love  of 
17* 


198  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

which  that  is  the  testimony  will   attract  or  draw  all  men 
unto  me. 

He  then  told  them  that  a  little  while  it  was  the  light,  that 
the  light  should  soon  set,  and  his  presence  should  be  no 
more  with  them.  He  then  explains  why  they  did  not  be- 
lieve on  Him  —  "Though  he  had  done  so  many  miracles 
before  them,  yet  they  believed  not  on  him."  He  says  it 
was  "  that  the  saying  of  Esaias  tlie  pi-ophet  might  be  ful- 
filled, which  he  spake.  Lord,  who  hath  believed  our  report  ? 
and  to  whom  hath  the  arm  of  the  Lord  been  revealed  ? 
Therefore  they  could  not  believe,  because  that  Esaias  said 
again.  He  hath  blinded  their  eyes."  Does  this  mean  that 
God  found  an  ancient  prediction  of  men  having  their  eyes 
blinded,  so  that  therefore  they  could  not  believe,  and  in- 
stantly set  about  making  the  people's  hearts  hard  that  his 
word  might  not  escape  fulfilment  ?  Not  at  all.  The  prophecy 
did  not  blind  the  people ;  it  only  jiredicted  that  they  should 
be  so.  What  God  prophesies  must  come  to  pass ;  but  yet 
the  prophecy  uttered  a  thousand  years  ago  does  not  one  whit 
shape  the  conduct  of  men  that  this  day  fulfil  it.  God's 
foreknowledge  and  man's  freewill,  however  incompatible 
they  seem  to  us,  are  really  perfectly  compatible  the  ane  with 
the  other.  But  how  then,  you  say,  were  their  eyes  blinded  ? 
"  God  hath  blinded  their  eyes,  and  hardened  their  heart ;  " 
just  in  the  same  Vv-ay  as  it  says,  "  God  hardened  the  heart 
of  Pharaoh."  God  did  not  do  it  by  literally  hardening  his 
heart,  though  one  could  justify  that  even  ;  but  he  did  it  in- 
directly—  that  is  to  say,  so  many  reasons,  so  many  motives, 
so  much  light,  were  all  set  before  him,  that  if  his  mind  was 
not  influenced  in  the  right  direction,  it  must  be  strengthened 
in  the  wrong.  And  you  know  quite  well  that  when  you  can 
muster  courage  to  reject  what  you  know  to  be  true,  you  will 
reject  it  more  easily  the  next  time  it  is  presented,  till  to  re- 
ject it  becomes  a  habit.  The  result  of  constantly  hearing 
and  constantly  rejecting  the  Gospel  is  the  hardening  of  the 


JOHN  xn.  199 

heart.  The  same  sunbeam  that  softens  some  things  hardens 
other  things  ;  but  as  the  softening  arises  from  the  nature  of 
the  substance  on  which  it  shines,  so  the  hardening  arises  not 
from  the  sunbeams,  but  from  the  nature  of  the  substance  on 
which  they  fall.  So  God's  word  was  the  means  of  harden- 
ing Pharaoh;  and  this  miracle,  rejected  by  the  Pharisees, 
which  they  had  tried  to  quench  and  extinguish,  was  the 
blinding  of  their  eyes  and  the  hardening  of  their  heai'ts 
worse  than  ever,  and  the  rendering  their  case  more  hopeless 
than  it  ever  was. 

Esaias  said  these  things,  when  he  saw  Christ's  glory  and 
spoke  of  him.  Now,  when  did  Esaias  see  Christ's  glory 
and  speak  of  him  ?  "We  are  told  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  his 
prophecy  that  he  saw  the  glory  of  Jehovah  —  mark  you, 
the  glory  of  Jehovah  —  "  upon  a  throne,  high  and  lifted  up ; 
and  the  angels  cried.  Holy,  holy,  holy,  is  Jehovah  of  hosts : 
the  whole  earth  is  full  of  his  glory."  That  sixth  chapter  of 
Isaiah  is  the  vision  of  Jehovah.  But  our  blessed  Lord,  the 
right  interpreter  of  it,  says  it  was  the  sight  of  himself;  the 
inference  is  irresistible,  therefore,  that  Jesus  was  Jehovah, 
supreme  God  over  all,  blessed  for  evermore. 

Then  ther^  is  appended  a  very  melancholy  statement, 
that  "  among  the  chief  rulers  also  many  believed  on  him," 
who  could  not  resist  the  evidence  ;  but  that  they  did  not 
confess  him,  or  they  concealed  their  ci'eed,  and  acted  like 
cowards,  for  they  were  afraid  they  should  be  put  out  of  the 
synagogue.  Many  people  will  be  Christians  in  the  dark, 
but  refuse  to  come  to  the  hght ;  and  some  real  Christians 
are  afraid  to  let  it  be  known  that  they  are  so.  Some  of 
these  may  have  been  true  Christians ;  for  many  imperfec- 
tions, it  is  obvious  enough,  are  compatible  with  true  Chris- 
tianity. We  must  not  say  a  man  is  not  a  Christian,  because 
there  is  much  alloy  in  his  composition.  This  would  be  hard 
judgment.     There  is  no   workable  pure  gold ;    there   are 


200  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

none  in  this  world  perfect ;  and  Ave  must  learn  to  see  grace 
and  the  effects  of  grace  often  where  great  faults  and  grievous 
imperfections  are  about  it.  I  have  no  doubt  that  some  of 
these  were  Christians,  sinful  as  their  conduct  was,  and  yet 
their  painful  characteristic  is,  "  They  loved  the  praise  of 
men  more  than  the  praise  of  God."  They  could  not  bear 
to  be  censured  by  the  world ;  they  would  rather  conceal 
their  Christianity  than  risk  it. 

Our  Lord  then  tells  them  that  he  is  come  a  light  into  the 
world  ;  that  they  that  hear  his  words,  and  believe  not,  he 
would  not  judge  them  —  that  was  not  his  province  then  ;  but 
one  should  judge  them ;  and  that  his  will  and  the  Father's 
will  were  perfectly  parallel  the  one  with  the  other.  He 
came  to  save,  not  to  condemn. 

Through  all  these  solemn  statements  of  our  Blessed  Lord, 
we  can  see  running  the  idea  of  a  responsibility  on  man's 
part,  which  it  is  utterly  impossible  for  any  to  shake  off.  It 
is  also  very  obvious  that  the  knowledge  of  the  truths  of 
Christianity  as  revealed  in  God's  blessed  word,  never  has  a 
neutral  effect.  By  this  knowledge  man  is  necessarily  made 
better  or  worse.  The  oftener  too  that  one  hears  the  Gospel 
without  being  influenced  by  it  for  the  better,  or  without  ac- 
cepting its  offers,  the  more  disposed  one  will  be  to  reject  it 
again,  till  at  length  God  says,  "  Because  I  have  called,  and 
ye  refused,  I  have  stretched  out  my  hand,  and  no  man  re- 
garded ;  but  ye  have  set  at  nought  all  my  counsel,  and 
would  none  of  my  reproof:  I  also  will  laugh  at  your 
calamity  ;  I  will  mock  when  your  fear  cometh  ;  when  your 
fear  cometh  as  desolation,  and  your  destruction  cometh  as  a 
whirlwind ;  when  distress  and  anguish  cometh  upon  you. 
Then  shall  they  call  upon  me,  but  I  will  not  answer  ;  they  shall 
seek  me  early,  but  they  shall  not  find  me  :  for  that  they  hated 
knowledge,  and  did  not  choose  the  fear  of  the  Lord :  they 
would  none  of  my  counsel:  they  despised  all  my  reproof. 


JOHN  xir.  201 

Therefore  shall  they  eat  of  the  fruit  of  their  own  way,  and  be 
filled  with  their  own  devices."  Than  these  lines  from  the  Book 
of  Provei-bs,  I  do  not  know  a  more  startling  statement  in 
Scripture.  Are  we  halting  between  two  courses  ?  Are  we  ad- 
journing present  duties  to  a  more  convenient  season  ?  Take 
heed  lest  there  be  in  any  of  you  an  evil  heart  of  unbelief! 


CHAPTER  XII.  12-16. 

PALM-SUNDAY.  —  ITS  ORIGIN.  —  JESUS  ENTERS  JERUSALEM  A9 
PROPHET,  PRIEST,  AND  KING.  A  CONQUEROR. PEOPLE  RE- 
MAIN FAITHFUL.  JEWS    HAD  THE  OLD    TESTAMENT. PROPHECY 

LITERALLY     FULFILLED.  HISTORY. CHRIST     A     PRIEST    AND 

KING.  —  S.\iVATION. BIBLE. TEACHING. 

An  interesting  fulfilment  of  ancient  prophecy  occurs  in 
this  chapter,  —  "  On  the  next  day  much  people  that  were 
come  to  the  feast,  when  they  heard  that  Jesus  was  coming 
to  Jerusalem,  took  branches  of  palm-trees,  and  went  forth 
to  meet  him,  and  cried,  Hosanna :  blessed  is  the  King  of 
Israel  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  And  Jesus, 
when  he  had  found  a  young  ass,  sat  thereon ;  as  it  is  writ- 
ten. Fear  not,  daughter  of  Sion :  behold,  thy  King  cometh, 
sitting  on  an  ass's  colt.  These  things  understood  not  his 
disciples  at  the  first :  but  Avhen  Jesus  was  glorified,  then  re- 
membered they  that  these  things  were  written  of  him,  and 
that  they  had  done  these  things  unto  him." 

Palm-Sunday  has  it-s  origin  and  name  in  this  chapter. 
It  has  no  divine  authority  for  its  institution,  it  is  the  mere 
ordinance  of  man  ;  it  may  have  its  use  and  value,  —  it  may 
be  perverted  and  abused.  It  singularly  happens  that  in  the 
Roman  Missal  appointed  for  Palm-Sunday  there  is  more  of 
Scripture  and  less  of  human  tradition  than  in  most  of  the 
festivals  of  that  corrupt  Church,  The  procession  on  this 
occasion  was  obviously  a  triumphant  one  ;  Jesus  marched 
into  Jerusalem  more  with  the  air  of  a  triumphant  conqueror 
than  of  a  victim  about  to  be  nailed  to  a  cross  to  make 
an  atonement  for  the    sins  of  all  that  believe.     Were  we 

(202) 


JOHN   XII.  203 

very  minutely  to  analyze  the  chapter,  we  might  see  that  he 
entered  as  a  prophet,  to  teach  Jerusalem  its  ruin  ;  he  en- 
tei'ed  also  as  a  priest,  taking  possession  of  a  temple  that  was 
his  ;  and  the  voices  of  the  delighted  multitude  recognized  in 
him  the  King  of  glory,  when  they  shouted  in  his  hearing, 
"  Hosanna :  blessed  is  he  that  conieth  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord."  Usually  the  Redeemer  veiled  his  intrinsic  and 
essential  greatness  ;  but  occasionally  he  let  gleams  of  the 
inner  glory  break  forth  through  the  outer  shroud,  lest  men 
might  think,  from  the  meanness  of  the  shroud,  that  all  was 
human,  and  might  fail  to  know,  what  it  was  so  saving  and 
important  to  know,  that  in  that  Man  of  Sorrows  was  the 
mighty  God,  —  that  under  that  countenance,  more  marred 
than  any,  was  the  Prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth.  He  set 
forth  enough  of  his  humanity  to  prove  he  was  the  predicted 
Man  of  Sorrows  ;  he  let  forth  occasionally  ■  enough  of  his 
glory  to  demonstrate  that  under  the  Man  of  Sorrows  was 
the  mighty  God,  the  Prince  of  peace.  It  is  also  singular 
that  almost  on  every  occasion  when  the  irrepressible  beams 
of  his  glory  broke  forth,  it  was  upon  the  eve  of  some  signal 
suffering,  humiliation,  or  sorrow.  It  was  in  the  garden  of 
Gethsemane,  when  all  seemed  lost,  and  the  weight  of  a 
world  upon  his  spirit  almost  crushed  him  to  the  earth,  that 
weeping,  and  bleeding,  and  downcast,  he  cried  in  agony, 
"  If  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from  me."  It  was  then 
that  the  starry  host  bowed  from  the  firmament,  and  angels 
came  upon  speedy  wings  to  comfort  him,  and  indicated  that 
whilst  he  seemed  as  a  man,  there  was  more  than  man  in  the 
Sufferer  there.  It  was  on  the  cross,  when  all  seemed  deso- 
late, and  when  he  cried,  apparently  upon  the  brink  of  de- 
spair, though  not  really  so,  "  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou 
forsaken  me  ?  "  that  he  gave  expression  to  one  of  the  most 
majestic  acts  of  royalty,  one  of  the  noblest  proofs  of  his 
Deity,  as  he  said  to  the  dying  thief  upon  his  right,  "  To-day 
shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  Paradise."     We  see  the  light  and 


204  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

tlie  shadow,  the  sunshine  and  the  storm,  the  human  and  the 
divine,  weakness  and  strength,  the  finite  and  the  infinite, 
constantly  interchanging  their  play,  and  indicating  that  this 
wondrous  character  was  nothing  less  than  God  manifest  in 
the  flesh.  But  perhaps  he  may  have  designed  on  this  occa- 
sion, when  he  marched  into  Jerusalem  less  as  a  pilgrim, 
and  more  in  majestic  procession,  to  indicate  that  he  went  to 
suffer  not  by  compulsion,  but  willingly.  It  was  essential  to 
his  sacrifice  that  it  should  not  be  extorted  from  him,  but 
freely  rendered  ;  and  therefore  he  says,  "  I  have  power  to 
lay  down  my  life,  and  I  have  power  to  take  it  up."  On  this 
occasion,  therefore,  he  is  not  dragged  to  the  cross  a  reluc- 
tant prisoner,  but  he  marches  in  triumph  to  the  cross  as  to 
the  throne  of  his  power,  as  to  the  place  of  his  greatest  honor. 
He  went,  he  was  not  driven  ;  and  what  bound  him  to  the 
cross  so  fast  was  not  the  nails  that  man  had  fastened,  but  the 
cords  of  love  of  his  own  heart. 

After  this,  we  read  that  the  Pharisees,  the  Sadducees, 
the  priests,  all  the  ecclesiastics  who  hated  him,  watched  for 
every  opportunity  to  destroy  him.  It  was  the  multitude, 
not  the  priests,  —  the  laity,  not  the  ecclesiastics,  —  that  gave 
him  a  joyous  recognition  in  his  priestly  procession,  "  Hosan- 
na :  blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord." 
It  has  been  so  in  all  ages ;  the  priest  has  often  apostatized 
from  the  truth,  the  mass  of  the  people  rarely  —  I  say  rarely, 
not  never.  Most  heresies  have  been  broached  by  the  priests, 
not  by  the  people.  The  greatest  injury  on  Christianity  — 
sad  and  sorrowful  recollection  —  is  what  has  been  inflicted 
upon  it  by  them  that  were  consecrated  and  appointed  to 
vindicate  and  promote  it ;  and  when  the  whole  upper  strata 
of  the  Church  have  become  completely  corrupted,  the  golden 
deposit  has  descended  to  the  lowest,  and  found  a  lodging,  a 
shelter,  and  a  resting-place  there.  I  said  not  always ;  for 
alas,  alas  !  the  very  lips  that  shouted  on  Palm-Sunday,  if  I 
may  so  call  it,  "  Ilosanna,"  shouted  on  Good-Friday,  "  Away 


JOHN  XII.  205 

with  him,  away  with  liira ;  Crucify  him,  crucify  him." 
Truly  we  are  not  to  put  our  trust  in  princes,  but  I  fear  we 
may  not  put  our  implicit  trust  in  any  —  "  Cursed  is  he  that 
trusteth  in  an  arm  of  flesh;"  he  only  never  shall  be  moved, 
and  he  never  M'ill  be  disappointed,  whose  trust  is  in  the 
Rock  of  Ages.  There  was  in  this  multitude  on  this  occa- 
sion much  also  that  was  admirable.  We  are  told  in  the 
chapter,  they  were  going  to  a  festival  of  the  Jews  to  cele- 
brate that  festival  with  the  rest  of  their  fellow-countrymen. 
But  it  is  interesting  to  notice  that  the  crowd,  for  such 
they  were,  lifted  their  eyes  above  the  festival,  and  rested 
them  upon  Him  who  was  its  object  and  end.  They  were  so 
satisfied  with  Christ,  the  end  of  the  law,  that,  as  far  as  we 
can  gather  from  the  chapter,  they  remained  studying  him, 
neglecting  the  fading  scene  and  ceremony  around  them. 
May  we  not  learn  a  lesson  from  tliis  ?  to  lift  our  eyes  far 
above  the  baptismal  font,  and  see,  not  water,  but  the  Holy 
Spirit,  the  Lord  and  the  Giver  of  life ;  to  lift  our  eyes  far 
above  the  communion  table,  and  to  see,  not  bread  and  wine 
that  priest  or  presbyter  can  bless,  but  the  living  bread  that 
is  in  heaven,  the  nutriment,  the  strength,  and  the  refresh- 
ment of  his  believing  people.  It  is  a  happy  teaching  when 
we  hold  fast  the  sign,  but  look  far,  far  above  it.  Scepticism 
would  destroy  the  sacrament,  superstition  would  make  a  god 
of  the  sacrament ;  enlightened  Christianity  loves  the  rite  be- 
cause it  has  the  superscription  of  Christ  on  it ;  it  looks  be- 
yond the  rite  to  him  whom  it  represents,  and  of  whom  it 
says,  "  Behold  not  me,  but  the  Lamb  of  God  that  instituted 
me,  who  alone  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world." 

The  crowd,  we  are  told,  cast  branches  of  palm-trees  be-  \ 
fore  him.  The  white-robed  multitude  that  stood  before  the 
throne  had  palms  in  their  hands.  These  were  the  signs  of  I 
their  victories ;  and  when  the  crowd  threw  palm  branches  j 
that  they  had  gathei'ed  from  the  trees  on  the  road  side  in  j 
the  path  of  Jesus,  they  meant  to  show  that  he  was  a  con-  / 
18 


206  scpaPTuuK  readings. 

queror,  as  I  doubt  not  many  of  tliem  felt,  not  of  Cesar's 
'  armies,  but  of  Satan's  progeny,  sin,  and  sorrow,  and  death. 
They  cast  palm  branches  before  him,  to  denote  perhaps  that 
his  victories  were  real  because  they  were  moral.  He  over- 
came the  sharpness  of  death,  he  burst  the  barriers  of  the 
grave,  he  triumphed  over  principalities  and  powers,  and 
made  a  show  of  them  openly.  His  wounds  were  the  weap- 
ons of  his  triumph,  his  death  was  a  glorious  victory.  He 
was  crushed,  but  he  was  not  conquered :  the  grave  received 
him  as  a  victim ;  unexpectedly  it  discovered  he  was  its  van- 
quisher ;  and  through  death  he  overcame  him  that  had  the 
power  of  death  ;  thus  conquered  that  we  might  not  be  sub- 
dued, triumphed  that  we  might  never  be  defeated.  But  not 
only  did  these  palm  branches  recognize  him  as  a  conqueror, 
ybut  many  of  the  people  also  entlironed  him  as  a  King  and  a 
pPrince.  "  Hosanna  :  blessed  is  he  that  cometli  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord."  "  Hosanna,"  again,  "  in  the  highest."  They 
recognized  in  Jesus,  therefore,  not  only  a  conqueror,  but 
they  recognized  him  as  the  King  of  Israel  that  cometh  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord.  There  was  royalty  in  Christ's  acts ; 
there  was  a  kingly  shine  and  an  awful  majesty  in  every 
word  he  spoke,  in  every  deed  he  did,  in  every  miracle  he 
wrought.  It  was  royalty  that  hushed  the  winds,  which 
obeyed  as  his  loyal  subjects ;  it  was  royalty  that  repressed 
the  tumultuous  waves,  and  made  the  stormy  sea  a  prome- 
nade for  his  holy  feet ;  it  was  royalty  that  hushed  the  passions 
of  the  people,  that  scattered  the  prejudices  of  the  crowd, 
and  vindicated  for  himself  the  title  so  justly  given  him, "  the 
King  of  Israel."  And  what  that  poor  crowd  saw  dimly,  we 
now  know  thoroughly.  We  can  say,  with  an  emphasis  with 
which  they  never  said  it,  "  Thou  art  the  King  of  Israel,  thou 
art  the  King  of  glory,  0  Christ."  But  is  this  to  us  a  mere 
cold  intellectual  deduction,  or  is  it  a  life,  an  experience,  the 
innermost  feeling  of  our  hearts,  the  result,  in  short,  of  having 
felt  within  the  influence  of  his  sceptre  ?     The  effects  of  his 


JOHN'   XIT.  207 

royalty  are  passions  removed,  prejudices  scattered,  till  at 
last  we  exclaim,  under  the  conscious  presence  of  Christ, 
"  What  manner  of  man  is  this,  that  the  winds  of  prejudice 
and  the  waves  of  passion  in  our  hearts  instantly  obey  him  ?  " 
That  multitude,  when  they  scattered  the  palm  branches  be- 
fore him,  and  shouted,  "  Thou  art  the  King  of  Israel ;  "  or, 
"  Blessed  be  the  King  of  Israel,  that  cometli  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord,"  evidently  i-eferred  to  passages  that  predicted  his 
advent.  In  ^he  24th  Psalm,  "  Who  is  the  King  of  glory  ? 
The  Lord  of  hosts,  he  is  the  King  of  glory."  In  the  118th 
Psalm,  which  was  part  and  parcel  of  what  the  Jews  called  the 
great  Hallel,  and  which  was  supposed  to  have  been  sung  at 
the  first  Supper,  instituted  by  our  Lord,  "  Save  now,  I  be- 
seech thee,  O  Lord.  Blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord."  "  Save,  we  beseech  thee,"  being  the  simple 
translation  of  "  Hosanna."  Now  what  the  people  did  on 
this  occasion  is  evidence  that  they  must  have  had  the  Old 
Testament  in  their  hands,  and  that  they  must  have  been  ac- 
quainted with  it.  And  if  the  Jew  held  the  Old  Testament 
as  his  right,  why  should  the  Gentile  be  denied  it  ?  If  the 
ancient  Jew  in  the  dim  light  of  the  Old  Testament  could  see 
in  Christ  the  King  of  glory,  why  may  not  the  modern  Gen- 
tile in  the  glorious  sunrise  of  the  New  Testament  see  yet 
more  clearly  that  Christ  as  Lord,  and  Saviour,  and  King 
of  glory  ? 

When  they  scattered  these  branches,  and  recognized  him, 
they  shouted  in  the  language  of  the  passage,  "  Plosanna."  \ 
These  are  two  Hebrew  words,  that  mean,  "  Save  us  now," 
or  "  Save  now,"  or  "  Save  us ; "  and  therefore  when  they 
said  "  Hosanna,"  they  acknowledged  they  were  slaves  of  a 
worse  bondage  than  Csesar  could  inflict,  and  panted  for  a 
nobler  freedom  than  Cassar  could  bestow.  Jesus  saved  then, 
and  he  saves  still.  His  very  name  is  Salvation  ;  "  he  shall 
save  his  people  from  their  sins."  What  he  purchased  by 
his  blood  eighteen  centuries   ago  he  now  bestows   by  his 


208  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

power.  What  be  deserved  upon  the  cross  as  a  Priest  he 
bestows  from  bis  throne  as  a  King.  He  earned  for  us  a  right 
to  lieaven  when  he  died  ;  he  makes  good  for  us  that  right  to 
heaven  by  bis  exabation  to  the  throne. 

But  they  not  only  said  "  Save  us,"  but  they  shouted, 
"  Blessed  be  the  King  of  Israel."  All  generations  have 
indeed  called  bim  blessed  in  a  higher  sense  than  that  proph- 
ecy was  used  of  old.  We  have  here,  perhaps,  a  pi'oof — an 
incidental  proof — amid  many  others,  that  Jesus  was  God. 
On  every  occasion  when  special  honor  was  bestowed  on  a 
creature,  however  excellent,  be  modified  it ;  but  when  honor 
was  bestowed  upon  himself  he  accepted  it  invariably  as  his 
due.  When  some  came  to  him  one  day,  and  said,  "  Blessed 
is  the  womb  that  bare  thee,  and  the  paps  that  thou  bast 
sucked,"  what  did  he  say  ?  "  Yea,  rather,  blessed  are  they 
that  hear  the  word  of  God  and  do  it."  But  when  the 
crowd  pronounced  bim  blessed,  he  did  not  say  that  any 
other  was  more  so,  nor  did  be  dilute  the  expression,  but  he 
received  it  as  a  conviction  in  the  minds  of  the  people,  already 
a  prophecy  in  the  word  of  God  ;  for  a  day  comes  when  all 
shall  bless  him  and  be  blessed  in  him ;  and  a  great  multitude 
clad  in  white  robes,  with  palms  in  their  hands,  shall  sing, 
"  Salvation  unto  our  God  and  unto  the  Lamb  for  ever  and 
for  ever."  And  when  he  came  seated  on  an  ass,  riding  in 
procession  to  Jerusalem,  be  fulfilled  an  ancient  prophecy 
with  which  every  Jew  was  familiar :  "  Rejoice  greatly,  O 
daughter  of  Zion  ;  shout,  O  daughter  of  Jerusalem :  behold, ' 
thy  King  cometh  unto  thee :  he  is  just,  and  having  salva- 
tion ;  lowly,  and  riding  upon  an  ass,  and  upon  a  colt  the  foal 
of  an  ass."  Here  then  we  have  a  prediction  uttered  many 
hundred  years  ago ;  and  when  Christ  comes,  not  one  jot 
drops  from  the  prophecy  till  it  has  ceased  to  be  prophecy, 
and  has  become  history.  What  is  all  the  New  Testament  ? 
Just  ancient  prophecy  translated  into  inspired  history.  And 
what  is  all  modern  history  ?  God's  word  illustrated  by  the 
comments  of  providential  acts. 


JOHN  XII.  209 

It  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  habits  to  look  around,  and 
see  Gibbon  the  sceptic,  Hume  tlie  atheist,  Ahson  the  Ciiris- 
tian,  Macauhiy  the  eloquent,  all  sit  down  to  -write  facts  as 
they  have  found  tliem,  and  as  they  are ;  and  after  they  have 
done  so,  behold !  they  appear  the  amanuenses  of  God,  reg- 
istering prophecies  recorded  on-  imperishable  tablets.  "  Thy 
word,  O  God,  is  truth."  And  it  gives  a  Christian  composure 
and  peace,  when  lie  looks  around,  or  casts  his  eyes  into 
Eastern  realms,  and  hears  the  roll  of  the  trumpet  and  the 
boom  of  cannon  borne  to  the  West,  that  he  can  stand  by  and 
feel  that  all  those  great  Admirals,  those  great  Generals,  those 
Russian  aggressors,  those  Osmanli  defendants,  are  all  the 
chessmen  on  the  board,  and  the  great  Player  and  Governor 
of  the  movement  is  in  the  sky :  they  think  they  are  accom- 
plishing the  purposes  of  Cabinets — they  are  simply  fulfilhng 
the  predictions  of  God.  This  does  not  condemn  them,  but 
it  gives  to  the  Christian  that  peace  which  none  besides  can 
have,  when  over  all  the  smoke  of  the  field,  the  skill  of  the 
diplomatist,  the  shaking  of  thrones,  the  crashing  of  dynas- 
ties, he  can  hear  ringing  clear  and  musical  from  the  skies, 
"  The  Lord  reigneth."  "  Be  still ;  I  will  be  exalted  among 
the  nations,  I  will  be  exalted  on  the  earth."  So  here  the 
New  Testament  is  the  record  in  history  of  prophecy  that 
was  given  before ;  and  so  minute  is  the  fulfilment  that  we 
find  such  a  little  incident  as  this  amply  fulfilled  by  Christ. 
Now  I  have  often  said  if  an  incident  so  trivial  as  this  has 
been  translated  into  history  by  Christ,  may  we  not  put  upon 
prophecy  a  far  more  literal  translation  than  we  are  often  dis- 
posed to  do  ?  Many  people  say,  we  cannot  understand  how 
the  Jews  could  go  to  their  own  land,  or  Christ  come  person- 
ally upon  earth  ;  we  cannot  understand  how  this  could  be, 
or  what  is  the  use  of  it.  The  real  question  is,  Is  it  in  tiie 
Bible?  If  it  be  here,  if  the  prophecy  that  Christ  should 
come  riding  on  an  ass,  and  on  a  colt  the  foal  of  an  ass  — 
if  so  minute  a  prophecy  was  literally  fulfilled,  then  we  may 

18* 


210  SCRIPTUKE    READINGS. 

be  sure  that  He  that  has  written  that,  has  written  no  incidents, 
only  to  be  exhausted,  but  has  inspired  and  recorded  the  least 
of  them  all  that  you  and  I  may  feel  persuaded  that  heaven 
and  earth  may  pass  away,  but  one  jot  or  tittle  shall  not  pass 
from  this  book  till  all  shall  be  fulfilled.  How  beautiful  is 
that  name  bestowed  upon  the  Church  here,  the  "  daughter  of 
Sion  !  "  "  Rejoice,  O  daughter  of  Sion."  She  is  the  bride  of 
the  Lamb ;  but  the  daughter  of  Sion,  Jerusalem,  has  always 
been  called  in  Christian  language  the  Mother  Church.  The 
Church  of  Rome  assumes  to  be  the  mother  ;  she  is  simply  a 
rival  —  a  pretender  —  a  cruel  step-mother,  not  the  true 
mother  Church  of  which  the  Gentile  Church  is  the  daughter  ; 
and  there  is  the  mother  in  the  skies,  greater  and  more  claim- 
ant than  either  —  Jerusalem  which  is  above,  which  is  the 
mother  of  us  all.  Christ's  Church  is  likened  as  a  bride  in 
her  relationship  to  him  ;  as  a  daughter  in  her  relationship  to 
the  Jerusalem  that  is  above.  And  he  says  to  her,  "  Thy 
King  Cometh."  Christ  is  our  King  if  he  be  our  Saviour. 
And  this  is  a  very  important  thought.  Jesus  Chi'ist  Avill  not 
be  a  Priest  to  any  one  by  whom  he  is  not  held  to  be  a  Eng 
also.  If  you  will  be  saved  by  his  blood,  you  must  consent 
to  be  governed  by  his  law.  If  you  will  take  bis  cross  as  the 
reason  why  you  may  be  forgiven,  you  must  take  his  law  as 
the  rule  by  which  you  are  guided.  We  believe  in  Christ 
the  Prophet,  whose  word  is  truth ;  the  Priest,  whose  atone- 
ment is  complete  ;  the  King,  whose  law  is  obligatory  upon 
us.  The  Antinomian  will  take  Christ  as  his  Priest,  but  he 
rejects  him  as  his  King ;  the  Arminian  will  take  Christ  as 
his  King,  but  he  will  have  nothing  or  little  to  do  with  him  as 
his  atonement,  or  his  Priest.  We  must  take  him  as  our 
Priest,  that  our  sins  may  be  expiated ;  Ave  must  take  him  as 
our  King,  that  our  sins  may  be  extirpated.  We  must  seek 
forgiveness  from  his  cross  ;  we  must  seek  direction  from  his 
throne.  And  thus  looking  to  and  believing  on  Christ  in  all 
his  completeness,  we  are  Christians  indeed,  the  followers  of 
the  Lamb. 


JOHN  xir.  211 

"We  see,  in  the  next  place,  that  Christ's  Church  is  a  kingdom. 
If  he  be  our  King,  then  we  belong  to  a  kingdom.  Christians 
are  not  a  drove,  but  a  people ;  not  a  crowd,  but  a  congrega- 
tion ;  not  a  meeting,  but  a  church  and  a  kingdom.  We  are 
his  subjects,  and  he  is  our  King.  And  then  this  King  is 
described  here  as  "just,  and  having  salvation."  Just  and 
lowly  ;  but  more  beautiful  than  either  to  us,  having  what  we 
need,  what  none  else  has,  —  as  all  fountains  that  pretend  to 
be  such  are  only  proved  to  be  cisterns  when  we  seek  from 
them  that  which  Christ  alone  has  to  bestow,  — • "  having  sal- 
vation ; "  salvation  from  the  curse  of  sin,  salvation  from  its 
power,  its  pollution,  and  its  presence  for  ever  and  for  ever ; 
salvation  from  the  greatest  ruin  of  the  greatest  sinner  to  the 
greatest  pitch  of  glory  and  happiness  for  ever ;  salvation 
from  the  greatest  sins  of  the  greatest  sinner  of  the  greatest 
age,  —  his  blood  cleanseth  from  all  sin ;  he  is  able  to  save  to 
the  very  uttermost ;  —  salvation  without  payment,  access 
without  a  priest  to  administer  it,  without  a  penance  to  go 
through  for  it,  without  a  moment  to  wait  for  it,  without  a 
promise  to  stipulate  for  it ;  free,  without  money  and  without 
price.  "  The  Spirit  and  the  Bride  say,  Come ;  and  let  him 
that  is  athirst  come ;  and  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  of  the 
water  of  life  freely."  Glorious  robes  for  tainted  ones,  white 
robes  for  torn  and  polluted  ones,  living  bread  for  husks,  our 
Father's  home  for  the  stranger's  slavery,  a  crown  of  glory, 
an  inheritance  incorruptible,  and  undefiled,  and  that  fadeth 
not  away.  What  a  blessed  possession !  Such  a  salvation  is 
not  in  the  Church,  not  in  the  priest,  not  in  the  sacrament;  it 
is  in  Christ ;  none  besides  has  it ;  he  has  it  only,  and  he  that 
has  it  alone  bestows  it ;  and  any  one  that  needs  it  is  welcome 
to  ask,  and  if  there  be  truth  in  the  Bible  there  will  be  salva- 
tion given  just  for  asking. 

It  is  added  in  remarkable  words,  "  They  understood  not  this 
yet ;  but  when  Christ  was  risen  from  the  dead,  then  they  un- 
derstood."    Why  ?     Because  when  Christ  had  risen,  and  as- 


212  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

cended,  and  was  glorified,  then  the  Holy  Spirit  was  given. 
I  know  nothing  that  shows  man's  ruin,  apostasy,  blindness, 
perversity  more  thoroughly  than  this  :  that  with  Christ  man 
remained  untaught.  Take  an  apostle  befoi-e  the  day  of  Pen- 
tecost, even  sitting  at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  and  an  apostle  after 
the  day  of  Pentecost ;  it  is  not  compai-ison,  it  is  contrast.  The 
one  faltering,  stumbling,  erring,  misinterpreting,  and  in  this 
passage  not  understanding  ;  the  other  the  eloquent  expositor, 
the  utterer  of  grand  truths  that  are  still  the  lights  of  the  world, 
the  salvation  of  mankind.  But  the  apostles  understood  it,  we 
are  told,  when  Christ  was  gloiified  ;  and  they  were  enabled  to 
do  so  because  the  Spirit  was  given.  Now,  we  can  understand 
the  Bible  just  as  we  can  understand  Alison's  History  of  Eu- 
rope, or  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire ; 
any  man  can  understand  it  intellectually,  for  it  is  one  of  the 
plainest  and  most  intelligible  books  ever  -u-ritten.  It  has 
passages  whose  eloquence  is  surpassed  by  none ;  it  has  poe- 
try in  comparison  of  which  Homer's  was  a  mere  rhyme  ;  it 
has  history  characterized  by  a  simplicity,  and  yet  a  sublim- 
ity, that  has  no  parallel  and  no  precedent ;  it  has  descrip- 
tions the  most  tlu-illing,  arguments  the  most  conclusive,  ap- 
peals the  most  touching ;  and  that  man  has  not  the  ordinary 
capacities  of  the  level  of  mankind  who  does  not  understand 
intellectually  the  Bible  when  he  reads  it.  But  there  are  two 
understandings  of  the  Bible.  To  understand  it  as  we  under- 
stand other  books  is  what  any  one  may  do ;  but  to  under- 
stand it  savingly  is  what  it  needs  God's  Spirit  to  teach.  The 
Spirit  that  inspired  the  book  must  inspire  the  reader  of  the 
book  in  order  that  he  may  savingly  understand  it.  Till  the 
book  is  an  inspired  one  you  may  be  charmed  with  its  poetry, 
awed  with  its  eloquence,  touched  by  its  simplicity,  instructed 
by  its  history,  any  thing  but  saved.  But  read  it  as  an  in- 
spired book,  yourself  inspired  by  the  Spirit  who  inspired  it, 
and  then  you  will  see  latent  glories  breaking  forth,  you  will 
hear  undertones  of  heaven  in  all  its  harmonies,  and  you  will 


JOHN  xir.  213 

taste  iu  it  a  sweetness,  a  satisfaction  and  a  peace  that  will 
constrain  you  to  exclaim,  not  as  an  intellectual  inference,  but 
a  life,  an  experience  within,  "  Thy  word,  0  God,  is  truth." 
Now,  the  reason  why  many  read  the  Bible,  and  yet  do  not 
savingly  understand  it,  is,  that  they  have  not  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  teach  them.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  Spirit  makes  the 
book  more  plain.  When  we  say  that  we  have  an  infallible 
Teacher,  we  often  misstate  what  we  mean.  We  have  not 
one  to  explain  the  Bible  to  us,  but  we  have  one  that  puts 
our  hearts  right,  and  enables  us  to  read  the  Bible  in  the 
right  spirit  and  in  the  right  light.  The  Bible  is  seen  in  a 
light  that  streams  from  behind,  like  one  of  those  beautiful 
transparencies  that  are  lighted  up  by  a  light  from  behind, 
that  shines  tlu'ough  the  jjainting  upon  the  eye  of  the  beholder, 
and  not  from  behind  the  beholder  upon  the  ])ainting.  So  the 
light  that  illuminates  this  book,  and  beyond  on  him  that  reads 
it,  is  a  light  that  shines  through  it  and  into  our  understand- 
ings, and  in  that  purest  light  enables  us  to  see  all  things 
clearly. 

And  lastly,  we  learn  from  this  a  very  important  truth. 
The  apostles,  it  is  said,  did  not  understand  the  truths  that 
they  then  heard,  "  but  when  Jesus  was  glorified,  then  re- 
membered they  that  these  things  were  written  of  him." 
Now  this  teaches  us  that  it  is  not  unimportant  to  store  the 
memory  and  the  mind  of  children,  even  if  they  do  not  un- 
derstand it  at  the  time.  I  think  it  most  important,  when  you 
teach  children  the  Catechism  or  the  Bible,  to  teach  them  up 
to  the  point  when  they  cease  to  understand.  AVhatever  you 
teach  a  child,  endeavor  to  make  it  completely  to  be  under- 
stood ;  but  suppose  you  fail  in  that,  texts  taught  in  child- 
hood become  illuminated  in  after  years,  just  as  the  truths 
that  the  apostles  here  heard,  but  understood  not,  were  yet 
appreciated  in  all  their  magnificence  and  force  after  Christ 
was  glorified.  When  I  learned  the  vShorter  Catechism  when 
young,  I  scarcely  undei-stood  a  word  of  it ;  but  my  recollec- 


214  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

tions  of  it  came  to  be  enlightened  in  after  years ;  and  then 
the  dull  inscriptions  on  the  page  of  memory  became  filled 
with  celestial  light,  and  truths  expressed  with  consummate 
skill  because  taken  from  the  source  of  all  truth,  were  em- 
phatically insti'uctive,  suggestive,  and  useful.  So  John  New- 
ton was  taught  texts  of  the  Bible  when  a  child,  which  texts, 
like  inscriptions  on  monumental  stones  on  the  floor  of  a 
great  cathedral,  came  to  be  rubbed  out,  or  overgrown,  or 
covered  in  the  lapse  of  years  of  wickedness  and  sin ;  but 
one  night,  while  tossed  upon  a  stormy  and  tempestuous  sea, 
and  while  standing  at  the  helm,  his  place  of  duty,  a  single 
text  that  his  mother  taught  him  in  childhood  suddenly  be- 
came illuminated  as  by  a  lightning  flash,  and  shone  like  a 
star  in  memory ;  and  that  text  was  the  turning-point  of  his 
salvation  ;  John  Newton  ceased  to  be  the  reckless  wanderer, 
and  became  the  devoted  Christian,  the  favored  and  distin- 
guished preacher  of  the  Gospel.  All  who  do  not  believe 
in  Christ  are  uttei-ly  without  excuse ;  the  evidences  of  his 
mission,  his  Deity,  his  glory,  are  so  frequent,  and  so  full, 
and  so  clearly  enunciated  in  the  sacred  page,  that  unbelief 
becomes  a  sin,  inexcusable  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  unjus- 
tifiable on  the  part  of  man.  God  has  done  all  that  can  be 
done  to  induce  his  rational  offspring  to  believe  and  live. 
He  has  given  line  upon  line,  and  precept  upon  precept,  and 
told  us  to  ask  Him  to  interpret  what  seems  to  us  beyond 
our  depth. 


Note.  —  [37.]  No  attempt  to  escape  this  meaning  will  agree  with 
the  prophecy  cited,  verse  40.  But  the  inability,  as  thus  stated,  is 
coincident  with  the  fullest  freedom  of  the  human  will :  compare  ov 
dilETE,  chap.  V.  40.  — otl,  not  "for,"  but  "  because."  A  second  ground 
is  alleged  why  they  could  not  believe. 

[40.]  The  prophecy  is  freely  cited,  after  neither  the  Hebrew  nor  the 
LXX.,  which  is  followed  in   Matt.  xiii.  14.  f.     What  God  bids  the 


JOHN  XII.  215 

prophet  do  is  here  described  as  done,  and  by  himself,  which  is  ob- 
viously implied  in  the  Hebrew  text.  The  reading,  avrijv  supplying 
6  /laof  ovToc  as  the  subject  of  T£7v(p.  and  ■jzenup.,  is  out  of  the  question, 
as  tmgrammatical  and  inconsistent  with  the  context,  which  will  only 
allow  of  6  Kvptog  {i.  e.  Jehovah)  as  the  subject. 

[41.]  av7ov,  of  Christ.  The  Evangelist  is  giving  his  judgment, 
having  (Luke  xxiv.  45)  had  his  understanding  opened  to  understand 
the  Scriptures  ;  that  the  passage  in  Isaiah  is  spoken  of  Christ.  And, 
indeed,  strictly  considered,  the  glory  which  Isaiah  saw  could  only  be 
that  of  the  Son,  who  is  the  uKavyaofia  njg  66^7}g  of  the  Father  — 
whom  no  eye  hath  seen.  —  Alford. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

LAST  SUPPER.  —  Christ's  death  anticipated  by  him.  —  death, 
ITS  ASPECT.  —  Christ's   love.  —  satan    instigates   judas. — 

WASHING     OF     disciples'     feet.  —  PETER.  PROPHECY     OF    BE- 
TRAYAL. 

There  are  certain  traits  in  the  chapter  I  have  read  that 
clearly  identity  it  witli  the  record  in  the  other  Gospels  of 
the  celebration  of  the  Last  Supper,  or  the  communion  of 
the  body  and  blood  of  our  blessed  Lord  ;  though  in  John's 
Gospel  the  institution  of  the  Supper  is  omitted,  yet  it  is  so 
assumed  that  it  is  impossible  to  say  it  was  not  present  in  the 
mind  of  the  Evangelist ;  and  at  the  same  time  it  is  strength- 
ened by  the  fact,  that  John's  Gospel  supplies  conversations, 
sermons,  and  addresses  that  the  rest  omitted,  and  omits  some 
of  the  incidents  which  the  rest  contained.  It  has  been 
thought  that  Matthew's  Gospel  is  strictly  the  Gospel  of  the 
Jews ;  Mai'k's  Gospel  is  very  much  connected  with  Mat- 
thew's, and  probably  of  the  same  stamp  ;  Luke's  is  the  Gos- 
pel of  the  Gentiles  ;  and  the  Gospel  of  John,  as  called  by 
an  ancient  writer,  is  strictly  the  Gospel  of  the  Father, — 
God,  in  the  endearing  relationship  of  Father,  occurring 
about  seventy-two  times  in  this  most  instructive  Gospel. 
Also  you  will  notice  that  the  three  previous  Gospels  seem 
to  deal  more  with  the  outer  life  of  Jesus  ;  the  Gospel  of  St. 
John  seems  more  to  be  the  echo  of  his  inner  sentiments,  and 
life,  and  thoughts,  and  feelings.  Hence  the  other  Gospels 
are  more  what  Jesus  did  ;  this  Gospel  is  rather  what  Jesus 
said :  and  John,  therefore,  frequently  omits  an  incident,  in 
order  to  record  a  conversation  of  which  that  incident  was 
the  suggestive  subject.     It  is  so  here ;  this  chapter  is  evi- 

(216) 


jouN  XII.  217 

dently  a  discourse  quoted  at  the  communion  instituted  at  the 
close  of  the  Passover,  and  therefoi*e  begins,  "Now  before 
the  feast  of  the  passover,  when  Jesus  knew  that  his  hour 
was  come."  He  was  not  precipitated  into  death,  contrary 
to  his  expectation  or  his  wiU.  lie  could  say,  "  I  lay  down 
my  life,  and  I  take  it  up."  He  gave  his  life  freely  as  a 
sacrifice  ;  he  took  it  up  again  freely  in  his  sovereignty,  as 
the  A^ictor  of  the  grave  and  of  death.  And  he  knew  the 
vei'y  hour  —  he  knew  the  details  of  that  hour  —  he  knew 
what  would  lead  to  it,  and  what  would  be  the  issue  of  it  all : 
and,  therefore,  he  knew  "  that  his  hour  was  come  that  he 
should  depart  out  of  this  world  "  —  the  beautiful  Scripture 
phrase  for  death  ;  as  Simeon  said,  "  Now,  Lord,  lettest  thou 
thy  servant  depart  in  peace."  And  Jesus  spoke  of  his  death, 
in  order  that,  in  the  light  of  what  he  said,  we  may  see  our 
death  also,  not  as  a  violent  act,  l)ut  as  a  simple  departure: 
as  the  ship  lets  go  her  moorings,  and  sets  sail,  so  the  Chris- 
tian —  the  soul,  that  is,  the  man  —  strikes  the  tent,  and 
leaves  the  dilapidated  tabei'nacle,  and  Avings  its  flight  to  a 
more  beautiful  clime,  the  rest  that  remaineth  for  the  people 
of  God. 

How  striking  is  that  sentiment,  "  Having  loved  his  own 
which  were  in  the  world,  he  loved  them  unto  the  end."  Now, 
this  is  as  true  to-day  as  it  was  then.  Man's  love  is  the  love 
of  a  creature,  dependent  upon  something  external  to  it,  and 
therefore  ebbing  and  flowing  with  what  excites  or  cools  it ; 
but  the  love  of  Jesus  is  the  love  of  God,  —  loving  us,  not 
because  of  what  we  are,  but  in  spite  of  what  we  are.  Hence 
his  love,  being  not  dependent  upon  what  we  arc,  in  its  sov- 
ereignty loved  us  at  the  first,  when  there  was  nothing  in  us 
lovely,  and  loves  at  the  last,  in  spite  of  much  calculated  to 
cool  it  or  repel  it.  And  he  loves  us  where  ?  Not  as  monks, 
imagining  that  they  go  out  of  the  world  by  going  into  that 
most  worldly  of  all  worldly  places  —  a  convent :  loved  us, 
not  as  men  insulated  from  the  business  and  the  bustle  of  this 

19 


218  SCRIPTUllE    READINGS. 

lite  ;  but  loved  us  "  in  the  world  from  the  first,  and  loves  us 
to  the  last."  And  when  he  prays,  in  a  succeeding  chapter 
of  this  Gospel,  "  I  pray  not  that  thou  shouldest  take  them 
out  of  the  Avorld,  but  that  thou  shouldest  keep  them  from  the 
evil  of  the  world,"  he  shows  there  is  nothing  more  absurd  or 
irrational  than  that  the  instant  they  become  Christians,  they 
ought  —  if  that  be  possible  in  the  case  of  a  real  Christian 
—  to  go  out  of  the  world.  The  fact  is,  if  a  man  be  a  true 
Christian,  of  all  persons  upon  earth  the  world  has  most  need 
of  him  —  it  can  least  afford  to  spare  him ;  and  if  he  be  not 
a  true  Christian,  he  will  not  be  made  one  by  going  into 
seclusion,  or  separating  himself  from  the  duties  of  tlie  world. 
But  the  fact  is,  many  people  are  willing  to  get  rid  of  the 
duties  of  the  world,  under  the  jiious  pretence  —  not  pious 
really,  but  pretendedly  so,  —  that  they  are  anxious  to  es- 
cape the  dangers  of  the  world.  Christianity  is  for  this  world, 
to  enable  us  to  triumph  in  it ;  and  it  is  for  the  next  world,  to 
enable  us  to  be  fit  for  it.  And  therefore  Jesus  loves  us  in  the 
world  at  the  first,  and  he  loves  us  in  the  world  to  the  last. 

We  then  read  that  the  secret  of  his  betrayal  on  the  part 
of  Judas  was  the  instigation  of  Satan,  the  wicked  one. 
Many  people  try  —  not  many  people,  I  hope,  but  some  try, 
especially  those  of  Unitarian  sentiments  —  to  explain  away 
the  personality  of  Satan ;  and  others  think  that  Satan  is  not 
what  he  is,  and  ought  not  to  bear  the  blame  that  is  frequently 
laid  upon  him.  It  is  quite  true  that  some  men  blame  Satan, 
when  they  ought  to  blame  their  own  depraved  passions ;  and 
it  is  a  common  fact,  that  human  nature  is  always  thankful  to 
get  anybody  to  bear  the  burden  of  its  own  responsibility. 
But  it  is  no  less  true,  that  some  of  the  most  dreadful  crimes 
in  the  world  vSatan  is  the  inspirer  of;  and  it  is  absolutely 
true,  that  the  greatest  crime  that  man  ever  perpetrated  upon 
earth  Satan  was  the  author  of;  for  "  the  devil  put  it  into  the 
heart  of  Judas  Iscariot,  Simon's  son,  to  betray  him."  But 
then  it  teaches  us  this,  that  the  devil  does  not  leap  into  the 


JOHN  XIII.  219 

heart  at  once;  he  watches  where  the  door  is  open,  —  where 
the  pathway  is  paved.  Judas  had  left  tlie  door  open,  the 
pathway  was  paved  by  covetousness  and  avarice,  and  Satan 
liaving  seen  access,  took  possession  of  liini,  and  carried  him 
to  tliat  dread  and  terrible  act  wliich  is  branded,  and  justly 
branded,  for  ever  and  ever. 

Jesus  therefore,  we  read,  knowing  that  all  things  were 
about  to  be  accomplished,  poured  water  into  a  basin,  and 
washed  the  feet  of  the  disciples.  You  are  aware  that  in 
Eastern  countries  the  very  first  act  of  hospitality  was  to 
give  water  to  wash  the  feet.  Shoes  were  not  worn  —  the 
feet  were  not  covered  in  those  days  —  there  was  only  a  san- 
dal, or  a  piece  of  leather  below  the  foot ;  and  travelling  on  a 
dry  and  dusty  soil,  under  a  burning  sun,  the  feet  were  neces- 
sarily covered  with  dust ;  and  the  very  first  act  of  refresh- 
ment, and  therefore  the  very  first  duty  of  hospitality,  was  to 
give  water  for  the  cooling  and  the  washing  of  the  feet. 
Now,  Jesus  did  so,  as  an  act  of  hospitality,  of  service,  and 
of  self-sacrifice,  —  and  so  a  suggestive  precedent,  not  for 
the  practice  itself,  but  for  the  principle,  the  spirit,  and  the 
lowliness  and  love  necessarily  involved  in  it.  There  is  no 
warrant,  I  think,  for  keeping  up  the  practice  now,  any  more 
than  other  practices  that  occur  and  were  proper  then.  But 
it  was  then  perfectly  intelligible  —  there  was  a  reason  for  it; 
the  latitude  and  longitude  would  justify  it  —  the  practice  of 
the  country  would  justify  it.  But  for  Dr.  Wiseman  to  do  as 
he  is  now  doing,  —  washing  the  feet  of  ten  or  twelve  men 
that  he  gathers  from  the  streets,  on  a  platform  erected  for 
that  purpose  in  a  chapel  or  a  cathedral,  is  one  of  the  most 
monstrous  and  absurd  attempts  to  imitate  Christ  that  one 
can  possibly  imagine.  It  would  be  far  better  to  lay  aside 
the  pomp  and  splendor  of  a  useless  ceremonial,  than  to  imi- 
tate the  blessed  Master  in  outer  acts,  but  deny  him  in  his 
inner  and  holy  spirit.  We  are  to  imbibe  and  exhibit  the 
princij^le  involved  in  this  ;  but  the  practice  itself  is  neces- 


220  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

sarily  obsolete.  In  ancient  times,  when  they  met  in  church, 
it  was  the  custom  foi"  each  to  kiss  the  other ;  the  practice 
now  would  be  absurd.  It  was  the  practice  then  to  wash  the 
feet  when  they  arrived  after  travelling  ;  the  practice  now  is 
unnecessary,  and  it  would  be  no  copy  of  Christ.  It  was  the 
practice  then  to  fast  —  I  allude  to  fasting  in  the  sense  of 
abstinence  from  food, — but  Ave  are  told  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment Scripture,  that  the  fast  that  the  Lord  has  chosen  is  to 
undo  the  heavy  burdens,  to  deny  ourselves,  to  take  up  our 
cross,  and  to  follow  Christ.  It  is  utterly  worthless  to  keep 
outer  customs,  when  we  lose  the  innef  spirit ;  just  as  it  is 
worthless  to  keep  as  a  sacred  relic  the  pretended  holy  coat 
at  Treves,  whilst  they  that  keep  it  and  adore  it  crucify  afresh 
the  Son  of  God,  and  put  him  to  an  open  shame.  Thus  we 
see  what  Jesus  meant  by  this  act ;  and  he  himself  explained 
it  now  when  he  came  to  Peter. 

You  see  Peter's  character  —  his  peculiar  character  — 
come  out  very  strikingly.  Pie  was  always  rash,  —  he  was 
always  ready  to  exjiress  his  mind  before  he  had  got  a  clear 
comprehension  himself  of  what  he  was  to  say.  He  spoke 
often  without  thinking  ;  he  spoke  unadvisedly,  upon  the  im- 
pulse of  the  moment.  This  was  before  the  day  of  Pente- 
cost, and  nothing  is  more  striking  than  the  contrast :  Peter, 
so  rash,  so  precipitate,  before  the  day  of  Pentecost;  and 
Peter,  after  that  day,  so  composed,  so  self-possessed,  —  re- 
taining all  his  early  fervor,  but  regulated  and  guided  by  a 
grace,  a  strength,  and  an  inspiration  that  he  was  formerly  a 
stranger  to.  Peter,  shocked  at  our  Lord's  humility,  says, 
"  Thou  shalt  not  wash  my  feet."  Then  Jesus  said,  "  If  I 
wash  thee  not "  —  using  the  word  "  wash  "  in  its  higher  or 
spiritual  sense  —  "  thou  hast  no  part  with  me."  Then  when 
Peter  heard  that,  he  replied  in  the  opposite  direction  to  him. 
He  said,  "  Lord,  not  my  feet  only,  but  also  my  hands  and 
my  head."  Our  blessed  Lord  again  corrects  his  extravagance, 
checks  his  rash  speaking,  and  says,  "  He  that  is  washed  "  — 


JOHN  xiir.  221 

in  the  right  sense  of  that  word  —  "  needctli  not  save  to  wash 
his  feet,  but  is  clean  every  Avliit."  And  he  shows  what  he 
means  ;  for  John  say.-^,  "  For  he  knew  who  should  betray  him  ; 
therefore  said  he,  Ye  are  not  all  clean."  Now,  I  woidd  not 
enter  upon  any  thing  controversial  here,  but  1  must  notice 
that  Jesus  here  speaks  of  washing  the  feet  Avith  water  as 
equivalent  in  its  moral  signification  to  the  washing  of  the 
Avhole  body.  May  it  not  be  true,  that  if  our  Baptist  brethren 
are  right  in  adopting  immersion,  we  cannot  be  wrong  in  the 
assertion,  that  if  water  be  sprinkled  on  the  face,  —  that  if 
the  brow  be  washed,  the  babe  needs  not  to  be  immersed, 
save  to  wasli  the  brow,  but  is  clean  every  whit  ?  At  least, 
Jesus  assumes  that  the  washing  of  the  feet  was  equivalent 
to  the  washing  of  the  Avhole  body  in  its  moral  significance. 
I  am  not  denying  that  immersion,  as  practised  by  our  Bap- 
tist bi'ethren,  is  right  —  I  think  it  is  quite  right,  and  do  not 
object  to  it  at  all ;  but  I  am  only  defending  ourselves,  and 
showing  that  if  they  be  right,  they  do  not  make  their  cause 
sti'onger  by  alleging  that  we  are  utterly  and  indefensibly 
wrong.  We  have  a  good  deal  to  say  for  ourselves,  —  a  great 
deal  more  than  I  can  say  now,  —  but  I  am  quite  certain  of 
this,  that  it  is  a  subject  not  worth  quarrelling  about ;  that, 
like  many  other  ancient  practices,  it  is  to  be  adapted  to  clime, 
to  circumstance,  to  country.  For  instance,  at  the  Lord's 
Supper,  they  all  leaned  upon  the  left  elbow,  they  all  lay  upon 
the  left  side  ;  but  in  the  English  Church  they  kneel,  in  the 
Scotch  Church  they  sit,  at  the  communion  table ;  and  either 
way  is  literally  and  spiritually  correct,  while  the  spirit  of 
the  observance  is  the  main  and  the  better  thing.  So  again 
in  the  early  customs  I  have  alluded  to,  —  and  it  seems  to 
me  one  of  the  proofs  of  the  reality  of  this  blessed  Book, 
that  it  does  not  deal  with  such  paltry  details,  —  it  does  not 
tell  you  how  much  wine  you  are  to  take  at  the  communion 
table,  nor  how  much  bread  you  are  to  eat,  nor  how  much 
water  you  are  to  use  at  baptism.  It  says  you  are  to  eat 
19* 


222  SCRIPTURK    READINGS. 

bread,  and  to  drink  wine,  and  to  use  water ;  but  in  all  out- 
ward circumstances  it  is  magnificently  latitudinarian  — 
on  all  vital  circumstances  it  is  thoroughly  decided  and 
definite. 

Our  blessed  Lord,  after  having  given  them  the  lessons 
that  flowed  from  this  circumstance,  announced  to  them  the 
awful  fact  that  one  of  them  should  betray  him.  The  apostles 
looked  on  one  another,  doubting  of  whom  he  spake.  Inno- 
cence was  the  first  to  question  its  own  liability  to  commit 
such  an  offence.  All  the  disciples,  we  read  in  another  Gos- 
pel, questioned  each  other  —  were  agitated,  grieved,  alarmed. 
Judas  was  the  only  one  that  sat  still  in  perfect  quiet,  though 
not  in  possession  of  the  peace  of  the  Gospel.  Jesus  then 
pointed  him  out,  and  told  them  who  it  was  that  should  do  it. 
And  then  Judas  went  out  quickly,  and  some  of  the  apostles 
thought  that  he  had  gone  to  buy  something  for  the  feast,  be- 
cause he  had  the  bag,  or  that  he  was  to  give  something  to 
the  poor,  —  not  then  knowing  the  frightful  and  enormous 
crime  of  which  he  would  soon  be  guilty.  There  is  a  A'ery 
beautiful  sentiment  which  I  omitted :  on  the  occasion  when 
Peter  seemed  not  to  understand  the  lowly  act  of  our  Lord, 
our  Lord  said,  "  What  I  do,  thou  knowest  not  now ;  but 
thou  shalt  know  hereafter."  What  intensity  of  philosophy 
is  in  that  single  text !  How  many  things  occur  in  every- 
day life  that  you  cannot  explain ;  how  many  difficulties  in 
every-day  duty  that  you  cannot  understand.  How  many 
things  take  place  in  the  world  of  which  there  is  no  explana- 
tion. How  many  texts  occur  which  you  cannot  well  recon- 
cile with  others ;  liow  many  doctrines  you  cannot  fully  com- 
prehend ;  how  many  acts  you  cannot  see  the  reason  or  the 
necessity  of.  How  delightful  this,  that  we  may  add  to  each 
and  to  all,  "  What  I  do  not  know  now,  I  shall  know  here- 
after." We  must  therefore  run  the  race  set  before  us  with 
patience,  looking  to  Jesus,  the  author  and  the  finisher  of  our 
faith. 


JOHN   XIIT.  ■  223 

We  then  read,  that  Avhen  Jesus  told  them  to  love  one 
another,  and  whither  he  was  going,  he  gave  them  the  great 
characteristic  badge  of  Christians — "By  this  shall  all  men 
know  that  ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye  have  love  one  to  an- 
other."    How  beautiful  is  that  badge !     You  know  a  king 
by  his  crown,  a  noble  by  his  coronet,  a  priest  by  his  robe,  a 
monk  by  his  cowl.     How  do  you  know  a  Christian  ?     Not 
by  an  outer  badge,  but  an  inner  spirit.     "  By  this  shall  all 
men  know  that  ye  are  my  disciples,  that  ye  love  one  another." 
The  badge  of  Christianity,  therefore,  is  neither  a  cross,  nor 
a  regal  crown,  nor  a  shaven  crown,  nor  a  cowl,  nor  a  hood  ; 
but  it  is  love  within,  illustrating  its  force  in  the  life  without. 
Peter,   always  rash  to   speak,  said,   "  Lord,  why   cannot  I 
follow  thee  now  ?  "     He  had  no  business  asking  the  question. 
We  are  all  curious  to  know  what  God  will  not  reveal,  and 
what  if  he  did  reveal  might  very  much  trouble  us,  and  could 
do  us  no  good.      This  Book  always  replies   to    questions 
where  the  reply  can  do  you  good ;  it  never  gratifies  an  itch- 
ing curiosity  by  explaining  what  can  do  you  no  good  if  you 
were  to  know  it.     Peter  says,  "  Lord,  why  cannot  I  follow 
thee  now  ?     I  will  lay  down  my  life  for  thy  sake."     And 
now  notice  with  what  calmness,  with  what  a  clear  prescience 
of  the  future,  Jesus  speaks :  "  The  cock  shall  not  crow  till 
thou  hast  denied  me  thrice."     The  sublime   calmness    of 
Jesus  is  most  remarkable.     Rousseau  said,  "  Socrates  died 
like   a   philosopher,   Jesus    died   like   a    God."     We    may 
modify  the   expression  of  the   sceptic,  and  say,  "  Socrates 
lived  like  a  heathen,  Jesus  lived  like  the  brightness  of  the 
Father's  glory,  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,  the  express  image 
of  his  person." 


Note. —  [19.]  Kow  from  this  time  I  announce  to  you,  that  when  it 
shall  have  happened,  you  may  continue  to  believe  that  I  am  (tho 


224  SCRIPTURE   READINGS. 

Christ).  See  chap.  xvi.  I.  See  Matt.  x.  40.  The  connection  is 
very  difficult,  and  variously  set  down.  It  has  been  generally  supposed 
(Euthyn.,  etc.)  that  the  words  were  to  comfort  the  Apostles  for  the 
disgrace  of  their  order  by  Judas,  or  in  prospect  of  their  future  labors. 
But  then  would  not  kav  riva  n.  have  been  expressed  by  v/xu^  ?  Another 
view  is,  to  refer  back  to  verses  16,  17,  and  suppose  the  connection  to 
have  been  broken  by  the  allusion  to  Judas.  But  is  this  likely,  in  a 
discourse  of  the  Lord  ?  I  rather  believe  that  the  saying  sets  forth  the 
dignity  of  that  ofSce  from  which  Judas  was  about  to  fall :  q.  d.  "  Not 
only  was  he  in  close  intercourse  with  me  (verse  18),  but  invested  with 
an  ambassadorship  for  me,  and,  in  me,  for  the  Father ;  and  yet  he  will 
lift  up  his  heel  against  me."  And  the  consideration  of  this  dignity  in 
all  its  privileges,  as  contrasted  with  the  sad  announcement  just  to  be 
made,  led  on  to  the  krapaxdr]  tu  nv.  of  the  nes-t  verse.  —  Alford. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

POST-COMMUNION.  ADDRESS.  REASONS     AGAINST      SORROW.  

TENTS  ON  EARTH  AND  MANSIONS  IN  HEAVEN.  —  PREPARATION  OF  A 

PLACE. DEFINITION  OF    HEAVEN. CHRIST  THE    IMAGE    OF    THE 

FATHER. A  COMFORTER.  —  TRINITY. THE  MEDIATOR. 

It  was  aftei*  the  first  communion  celebrated  upon  earth,  as 
we  are  informed  in  the  previous  chapter,  that  our  blessed 
Lord  addressed  to  his  sorrowing,  yet  in  some  respects 
rejoicing,  disciples,  the  most  instructive,  rich,  and  com- 
forting words,  that  we  have  now  read.  Thei-e  is  no  part 
of  the  Bible  so  popular,  so  instructive,  so  replete  with  intense 
consolation  as  the  14th,  loth,  IGth,  and  17th  chapters  of  the 
Gospel  according  to  St.  John. 

The  text  that  our  Lord  illustrates  throughout  is  contained 
in  the  first  verse ;  and  by  bearing  in  mind  that  every  verse 
in  the  three  chapters  that  follow  is  a  reason  why  the  hearts 
of  his  sorrowing  discii)les  should  not  be  troubled,  you  will 
see  the  connection,  and  trace  the  continuity,  of  tlie  whole 
discourse.  He  saw  them  sorrowing  because  he  told  them  he 
was  about  to  leave  them ;  and  he  now  speaks  to  them  such 
consolations  as  were  fitted  to  prove  to  them  that,  instead  of 
there  being  reason  for  sorrow  in  his  dejiarture,  there  was 
only  real  reason  for  joy,  for  happiness,  and  hope.  He  there- 
fore begins,  "  Let  not  your  hearts  be  troubled."  Why  ? 
For  this  reason,  "  Ye  believe  in  God,"  revealed  in  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures  ;  "  believe  in  me,"  as  the  brightness  of 
his  glory,  the  manifestation  of  his  love,  the  channel  by  which 
his  mercy  can  come  to  you,  and  your  prayers  can  rise  to  him. 

(225) 


226  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

And  then  he  says,  "  In  my  Father's  house  are  many  man- 
sions." The  word  translated  ''  mansions,"  means  hterally 
"  permanent  abodes ; "  not  aKtjval,  tents  that  require  to  be 
struck  ;  but  jioval,  habitations  that  permanently  endure.  In 
this  Avorld  every  tent  must  be  struck;  in  that  world  there  are 
no  tents,  but  permanent  abodes  for  all  the  people  of  God. 
And  how  beautiful  the  picture,  "  In  my  Father's  house  "  — 
one  happy  family,  filling  the  many  mansions  of  one  great 
house ;  and  over  all,  and  in  the  midst  of  all,  not  a  king,  to 
awe  by  his  majesty,  but  a  Father,  to  embrace  in  the  folds  of 
his  paternal  and  his  lasting  love.  "In  my  Father's  house 
are  many  mansions."  And  he  adds,  in  language  most  fa- 
miliar and  aifectionate,  "  If  it  were  not  so,"  and  if  I  had 
nothing  to  hold  out  to  you,  if  this  were  the  end  of  us,  "  then 
I  would  have  told  you."  I  have  been  so  candid,  so  explicit, 
so  full  in  all  my  instructions,  that  depend  upon  it  I  should 
have  let  you  know  all ;  and  if  I  have  showed  you  the  worst 
side  and  the  best  side  in  this  world,  depend  upon  it  I  should 
not  have  concealed  from  you  the  worst  any  more  than  I  have 
concealed  the  best  of  the  world  that  is  to  be.  And  because 
of  this,  instead  of  sorrowing,  instead  of  having  your  hearts 
troubled,  agitated,  perplexed,  which  is  the  meaning  of  the 
Avord,  you  ought  to  rejoice.  If  I  have  been  with  you  for 
your  sake,  I  shall  be  in  heaven  for  your  sake ;  I  am  busy 
here  about  your  business,  and  I  shall  be  busy  in  the  future 
about  it  still.  I  came  into  this  world  to  redeem  you,  I  go 
into  yon  world  to  prepare  a  place  for  you.  What  a  beauti- 
ful thought,  that  during  the  last  eighteen  centuries  Christ 
has  been  furnishing,  getting  ready  a  place  for  his  people ; 
whether  that  place  be  beyond  the  stars,  or  among  the  stars, 
or  on  the  orb  we  live  in,  this  we  are  sure  of,  that  under 
Christ  all  things  have  been  preparing  a  place  for  us.  Be- 
lieving that  this  orb  is  to  be  the  ultimate  abode  of  the  peo- 
ple of  God,  all  things  are  getting  it  ready.  War,  and  battle, 
and  conflict,  and   pestilence,  and  plague,  and  famine,  and 


JOHN  XIV.  227 

conquests,  and  victories,  and  defeats,  are  all  the  mere  instru- 
ments under  Christ,  making  ready  the  chamber  for  the  bride, 
the  home  for  Christ's  people,  the  rest  that  remaineth  for  all 
the  people  of  God.  And  here  also  is  the  very  definition  of 
heaven,  "  that  where  I  am  there  ye  may  be  also ; "  that  is 
heaven.  We  ought  less  to  care  about  the  place,  more  to 
think  about  the  character  that  fits  for  if.  I  do  not  believe 
that  heaven  is  not  a  place,  but  we  do  feel  that  the  character 
within  is  the  first  thing,  the  considei'ation  of  the  locality  is 
the  second  and  the  subordinate  thing.  Wherever  Christ  is, 
there  is  heaven ;  wherever  the  Queen  is,  there  is  a  palace  : 
wherever  the  sun  shines,  there  is  bright  day ;  wherever 
Christ  is,  there  is  happiness  for  ever  and  ever. 

Then  Thomas,  who  evidently  had  forgotten  much  that  he 
had  heard,  said,  "  We  know  not  whither  thou  goest ;  how 
then  can  Ave  know  the  way  ?  "  Jesus  then  tells  him,  "  I  am 
the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life ;  no  man  cometh  unto  the 
Father  but  by  me  ;  "  or,  translated  into  the  woi'ds  of  another 
text,  "By  him  we  have  access  through  one  Spirit  unto  the 
Father."  On  this  revelation  of  Himself  I  will  speak  at 
greater  length  at  the  close  of  the  exposition  of  this  chaptei*. 
He  reveals  the  Father  to  us,  and  introduces  us  to  the  Fa- 
ther. And  then  Jesus  says,  in  language  clearly  demonstra- 
tive of  Deity,  but  Deity  manifest  within  the  limits  of  human- 
ity, "  If  ye  had  known  me,  ye  would  have  known  my  Father 
also."  But  does  not  that  assert  that  Christ  is  the  very  ful- 
ness, the  very  apocalypse,  the  very  picture  and  portrait  of 
the  Father  ?  Now  he  that  is  the  portrait  of  the  Infinite  must 
be  infinite  himself.  You  cannot  say,  "  If  you  had  known 
the  world,  you  would  have  known  the  Father;"  or,  "If  you 
had  known  the  Law,  you  would  have  known  the  Father ; " 
but  we  can  say,  and  Christ  could  justly  say,  "  He  that  hath 
seen  me  hath  seen  in  all  his  fulness  the  glory  of  the  Father. 
Henceforth  ye  know  him,  and  have  seen  him."  "  Philip  then 
saith  unto  him,  Lord,  show  us  the  Father,  and  it  sufficeth 


228  SCKIPTURE    READINGS. 

ns."  Here  is  the  cry  and  aspiration  of  fallen  humanity, 
"  Show  us  what  the  Law  cannot  show  us,  what  the  world 
cannot  show  us,  what  our  own  consciences  cannot  show  us ; 
show  us  the  Father,  and  we  are  satisfied.  Then  we  shall  feel 
as  children,  Ave  shall  expect  our  home  ;  but  until  we  see  God 
the  Father  our  Father,  we  cannot  feel  towards  him  that  we 
are  his  children."  Then  Jesus  remonstrates  with  Philip : 
"  Have  I  been  so  long  time  with  you,  and  yet  hast  thou  not 
known  me,  Philip  ?  "  Is  it  possible  that  I  have  spoken  so 
much,  that  I  have  walked  with  you,  that  I  have  fed  you, 
that  I  have  done  miracles  before  you,  and  yet  that  you  have 
not  received  the  truth  that  I  came  to  embody  —  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  Father  ?  "  How  sayest  thou  then.  Show  us  the 
Father  ?  He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Fathei* "  — 
I  am  the  brightness  of  his  glory,  I  am  the  express  image  of 
his  person  —  "  how  sayest  thou  then,  Show  us  the  Father  ?  " 
And  then  he  adds,  "  Believest  thou  not  that  I  am  in  the  Fa- 
ther, and  the  Father  in  me  ?  the  words  that  I  speak  unto 
you  I  speak  not  of  myself  only  "  —  as  if  I  were  an  inde- 
pendent agent  —  "but  the  Father  that  dwelleth  in  me,  he 
doeth  the  works.  Believe  me  that  I  am  in  the  Fathe]-,  and 
the  Father  in  me ;  or  else  believe  me  on  the  evidences  I 
present,  for  the  work's  sake."  And  then  he  says,  "  Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you,  he  that  believeth  on  me,  the  works 
that  I  do  shall  he  do  also,  and  greater  works  than  these  shall 
he  do  ;  because  I  go  unto  my  Father  "  —  that  is  to  say,  that 
by  the  Spirit's  help  at  Pentecost,  descending  on  the  hearts 
of  all  true  believers,  they  shall  be  able  to  do  works  of  greater 
glory,  because  far  more  spiritual  and  less  material  in  their 
character,  than  those  that  I  have  now  done.  It  is  very  re- 
markable that,  under  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  many  of  the 
apostles  remained  lamentably  ignorant ;  but  what  a  mighty 
transformation  took  place  when  the  Spirit  that  Jesus  prom- 
ised descended  upon  them,  and  made  the  vacillating  Peter 
the  champion  of  the  faith  ;  the  affectionate  John  the  effective 


jonx  xiY.  229 

teacher  of  Jesus  still ;  and  all  the  apostles  totally  different 
from  what  they  were  when  He  was  with  them ! 

He  then  promises,  "  Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in  my  name, 
that  will  I  do.  Ask  in  my  name,  and  I  will  do  it."  What 
a  promise  is  that !  Either  that  is  true,  and  we  have  never 
yet  accepted  it;  or  else  it  is  false,  and  Ave  do  Avell  to  let  it 
alone.  We  have  no  doubt  of  its  truth ;  and  I  believe  if 
prayer  were  offered  with  more  simplicity  and  unfaltering 
confidence  in  the  name  of  Christ,  that  richer  blessings  would 
be  received  by  all  believers.  It  does  not  mean  that  you  are 
first  to  find  out  what  God  intends  to  bestow,  and  then  to  ask 
that.  You  have  no  business  trying  to  fuid  out  this  ;  your 
privilege  is  to  tell  him  exactly  what  you  w^ant,  whether  it 
be  bread  to  eat,  or  the  bread  of  life ;  whether  it  be  raiment 
for  this  world,  or  raiment  for  the  life  to  come  ;  whatever  you 
feel  to  be  truly  needful  for  you,  you  are  not  first  to  consider 
whether  it  is  God's  mind  to  bestow  ;  but  because  you  need 
it,  therefore  you  may  ask  it  to  be  supplied  in  the  name  of 
Christ.  God  will  give  it  you  if  it  be  good  ;  he  will  withhold 
it,  though  you  ask  it,  if  it  be  not  good.  It  is  your  privilege 
to  ask ;  it  is  his  prerogative  to  discriminate  what  is  good  for 
you,  and  what  is  not.  We  have  too  much  of  metaphysics 
in  our  sermons,  too  much  of  metaphysics  in  our  prayers ; 
we  need  more  of  the  childlike  temperament  that  tells  God 
all  the  wants  that  we  have,  and  trusts  that  he  will  satisfy 
them  according  to  the  riches  of  his  great  liberality.  Hence, 
adds  the  Saviour  again,  "  If  ye  shall  ask  any  thing  in  my 
name  I  will  do  it." 

Then  he  adds  the  practical  lesson,  "  If  ye  do  really  love 
me,  then  show  that  love  by  first  keeping  my  command- 
ments." And  then  he  says,  "  I  will  pray  the  Father,  and 
he  shall  give  you  another  Comforter ; "  as  if  to  show  that  he 
had  been  a  comforter  while  he  was  with  them  ;  and  tliat  in 
his  absence  another  Comforter  should  be  given  them,  "  who 
should  abide  with  them  for  ever,  even  the   Spirit  of  truth." 

20 


230  SCKIPTURE    READINGS. 

Mark  the  interesting  connection  —  he  is  the  comforter,  but 
only  as  the  Spirit  of  truth.  There  is  no  comfort  in  a  lie  ; 
there  is  only  comfort  in  the  truth.  The  natural  tendency 
of  man  is  to  keep  quiet,  in  order  not  to  disturb,  lest  there 
should  be  trouble  ;  the  duty  is  to  assert  and  maintain  the 
truth,  and  leave  the  comfort  to  follow.  The  Holy  Spirit 
first  dwells  in  the  heart  as  the  Spirit  of  truth  ;  he  then 
through  the  truth  dwells  in  the  heart  as  the  Comforter. 

"  But  the  world,"  says  our  Lord,  "  cannot  receive  this." 
These  spiritual  things  are  spiritually  discerned ;  they  are 
foolishness  to  the  natural  man,  and  therefore  the  natural 
man  does  not  receive  them.  And  then  he  adds,  "  I  will  not 
leave  you  comfortless  ;  "  literally,  "  I  will  not  leave  you  or- 
phans ; "  but  "  I  Avill  come  to  you."  And  then  he  tells  them, 
"  He  that  hath  my  commandments,  and  keepeth  them,  he 
it  is  that  loveth  me  ; "  that  is  the  true  test.  To  do  his 
will  is  the  best  evidence  of  love  to  him.  The  evidence  of 
love  to  Christ  is  not  pretension,  but  practice ;  and  he  that 
does  his  will  practically,  shows  to  the  world  that  he  feels 
toward  him  that  love,  the  fruit  of  which  is  whatsoever  things 
are  pure,  and  just,  and  honest. 

Then  "  Judas,  not  Iscariot,  saith  unto  him.  Lord,  how  is 
it  that  thou  wilt  manifest  thyself  unto  us,  and  not  unto  the 
world  ?  Jesus  answered,  and  said  unto  him.  If  a  man  love 
me,  he  will  keep  my  words  ;  and  my  Father  will  love  him, 
and  Ave  will  come  unto  him  "  —  Father,  and  Son,  and  Holy 
Spirit  —  "  and  make  our  abode  with  him."  He  tells  them 
again  what  the  Comforter  will  do  ;  "  But  the  Comforter, 
which  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  whom  the  Father  Avill  send  in  my 
name,  he  shall  teach  you  all  things,  and  bring  all  things  to 
your  remembrance,  whatsoever  I  have  said  unto  you."  Now 
is  it  possible  to  avoid  the  conclusion  that  there  is  a  Triune 
Jehovah,  or  Three  Persons  in  one  God  ?  Here  you  have 
the  Comforter,  the  Holy  Ghost.  Could  a  plain,  candid 
mind,  reading  this  passage,  ever  dream  that  the  Holy  Ghost 


JOHN    XIV.  231 

meant  an  influence,  and  not  a  Person  ?  Is  not  the  ■whole 
language  only  predicable  of  a  Person  ?  An  influence  does 
not  teach,  an  influence  does  not  bring  to  remembrance,  an 
influence  does  not  comfort.  Any  candid  mind  must  see  from 
the  whole  of  this  passage  that  the  Comforter  here  spoken  of 
is  a  Person,  and  a  Divine  Person. 

This  Comforter  will  descend  in  Christ's  name  —  that  is, 
of  the  Second  Person ;  and  he  will  be  sent  by  the  Father. 
I  cannot  explain  the  Trinity  ;  I  cannot  say  how  it  is ;  but 
I  can  assert,  because  God's  Word  has  settled  it,  that  it  is. 
But  are  there  not  many  things  of  which  we  cannot  tell  how 
they  are  ?  How  can  I  tell  how  a  spark  in  this  city  may  trans- 
mit a  message  to  Paris  or  to  Calais  ?  I  cannot  tell  you  how 
it  is ;  but  I  do  see  that  it  is.  I  cannot  tell  you  how  a  voli- 
tion in  my  mind  can  set  in  motion  all  the  muscles  of  my 
arm  ;  that  it  is,  I  experience  ;  how  it  is,  is  a  mystery  I  can- 
not explain.  And  so  in  reference  to  the  Trinity.  There 
are  Three  Persons  spoken  of  constantly  in  the  Bible ;  the 
Father  is  God,  the  Son  is  God,  the  Holy  Spirit  is  God ;  yet 
we  do  not  believe  in  Tri-theism,  but  in  a  Tri-unity,  or  a 
Trinity.  We  do  not  believe  in  three  Gods,  but  in  one  liv- 
ing and  true  God.  We  have  an  illustration  of  this  in  the 
very  verbs  that  we  learn  at  school.  We  know  only  in  our 
own  experience  of  three  persons,  and  each  person  suggests 
the  other.  "  I  love,"  suggests  "  Thou  lovest ;  "  and  "  Thou 
lovest,"  suggests  "  He  loveth ; "  but  there  is  no  fourth  per- 
son ;  you  have  to  begin  again,  "  We  love,  you  love,  they 
love  ; "  which  is  only  the  repetition  of  the  first  three.  We 
see,  therefore,  in  our  own  nature,  "  I,"  and  "  thou,"  and 
"  he,"  and  there  is  an  end  —  a  limit.  Again,  the  ancients 
used  to  define  the  human  being  to  the  ipvxv,  and  the  vovg, 
and  the  aHfia ;  that  is,  the  soul,  and  the  spirit,  and  the  body ; 
these  three  things  not  constituting  three  persons,  but  constitut- 
ing one  person.  And  you  are  aware  that  philosophers,  that 
used  to  conclude  that  light  had  seven  component  parts,  on 


232  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

future  investigation  have  found  out  that  it  has  strictly  three. 
I  do  not  say  these  things  prove  the  Trinity  ;  but  as  shadows 
prove  a  substance,  these  dim  tlioughts  and  sliadows  within 
our  hearts  may  be  not  unfairly  employed  to  illustrate  those 
sublime  things  which  defy  all  comprehension,  and  yet  are 
revealed  as  plainly  true.  But  it  is  more  important  to  us 
that  we  should  be  able  to  show  practical  results  from  the 
doctrine,  even  if  we  cannot  undei'stand  it.  The  Athanasian 
Creed  states  this  truth  most  fully ;  it  is  only  a  great  pity 
that  it  should  pronounce  an  anathema  upon  those  who  do 
not  comprehend  it  in  all  its  minute  distinctions.  For  many 
a  true  Christian  holds  the  truth  who  cannot  define  it ;  many 
a  true  believer  holds  fast  the  Trinity  Avho  cannot  distinguish 
and  discriminate  with  all  the  minuteness  of  that  excellent, 
but  in  this  respect  over  subtile  and  denunciatory  creed. 
There  are  Three  Persons  —  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost ; 
but  we  shall  best  learn  the  Trinity  by  having  the  Spirit  in 
our  hearts  teaching  us  all  things.  But  does  the  Spirit  teach 
us  all  things  ?  no  ;  he  does  not  teach  us  science  or  litera- 
ture ;  it  is  in  the  original,  "  all  the  things  ; "  meaning  all  the 
things  that  I  have  shown  you  ;  "  and  he  shall  bring  all  things 
to  your  remembrance."  How  important  is  that !  Memory 
has  suflTered  as  well  as  the  conscience  and  the  heart ;  and 
the  Holy  Spirit  is  promised  to  bring  to  memory  all  things 
that  we  need  to  know.  On  a  sick-bed,  on  a  death-bed,  on 
the  deck,  in  a  distant  land,  many  a  text  shining  from  the 
leaves  of  memory,  and  read  by  the  heart  and  the  conscience, 
brings  consolation,  and  hope,  and  peace.  And  he  shall  not 
only  do  that,  but,  says  our  Lord,  "  Peace  I  leave  with 
you  !  "  —  that  is  his  bequest,  —  "  my  peace  "  —  so  different 
from  the  world's  peace  —  "I  give  unto  you."  Therefore, 
as  I  began  with  this  text,  says  our  Lord,  let  me  close  with 
it  as  the  inference  from  all  I  have  said,  "  Let  not  your  heart 
be  troubled,  neither  let  it  be  afraid." 

Li  verse  twenty-eighth,  he  says,  "  If  ye  loved  me,  ye 


JOHN  XIV.  233 

would  rejoice,  because  I  said,  I  go  unto  the  Father  ;  for  my 
Father  is  greater  than  I."  That  text  has  been  quoted  by 
some  to  prove  that  Christ  is  not  God ;  but  they  might  just 
as  well  quote  the  text  that  says,  "  He  wept,  he  rejoiced,  he 
was  oppressed,  he  suffered,  he  bled."  It  cannot  be  said  of 
God  that  he  suffered,  it  cannot  be  said  of  God  that  he  died ; 
it  cannot  be  said  of  God  that  he  weeps  ;  and  yet  would  it 
not  be  very  absurd  to  leap  to  the  conclusion  that  Clu'ist  is 
not  God  because  these  things  are  predicated  of  him  ?  We 
say,  Christ  was  man,  strictly  man,  literally  man  ;  so  that 
every  thing  that  can  be  said  of  man  can  be  said  of  Christ : 
and  yet  we  say,  he  was  God  —  literally  God ;  and  every 
thing  that  can  be  said  of  God  can  be  said  of  him.  Now 
when  he  says,  "  My  Father  is  greater  than  I,"  he  speaks  of 
himself  personally  dying,  personally  going  to  that  state  of 
glory,  and  personally  of  the  Father,  in  his  name  sending 
the  Holy  Spirit  to  them.  Besides,  if  he  had  said,  "  My 
Father  is  greater  than  I,"  in  the  common  sense  and  the 
common  acceptation  of  those  words,  nothing  would  have 
been  more  ridiculous.  How  absurd  would  it  be  for  me  to 
tell  you,  God  is  greater  than  I !  you  would  instantly  feel, 
"  You  need  not  tell  us  that ;  nobody  doubts  it ;  it  is  an 
absurdity,  it  is  worse  than  an  absurdity  for  you  to  say  so." 
And,  therefore,  our  Lord,  when  he  used  these  words,  must 
have  employed  them  in  a  sense  totally  different  from  that 
in  which  I  can  employ  them.  He  employed  them  in  the 
sense  that  he  was  the  Mediator,  the  servant  of  the  Father, 
sent  by  the  Father  ;  and  that  the  Father,  as  the  Father, 
sending  the  Spirit,  was  greater  than  he,  —  God  manifest  in 
the  flesh,  the  Mediator,  by  whom  he  sent  him. 

And  then  he  says,  "  I  will  not  talk  much  with  you  ;  for 
the  prince  of  this  world  cometh  "  —  that  is  Satan  —  "  he 
hath  searched  me,  and  found  nothing  in  me.  Arise,  let  us 
go  hence."  He  arose  to  enter  yet  more  closely  into  the 
arena  of  agony  and  struggle.  He  invites  them  to  accom- 
20* 


234  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

pany  him,  that  they  might  be  witnesses  what  he  would 
endure  for  them  and  their  eternal  well-bemg.  What  a 
precious  chapter  !  Wliat  rich  consolation  !  Blessed  Lord, 
let  not  our  hearts  be  troubled  at  any  thing  in  this  world,  see- 
ing we  have  in  thee,  and  thine  agony,  and  death,  and  pas- 
sion, rivers  of  living  comfort. 


CHAPTER  XIV.  6. 

"lam  tlte  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life." 

I.  — TuE  Wat. 

"We  have  seen  the  connection  of  these  words  with  the 
rest  of  the  context.  Jesus  tells  them,  "  I  go  to  prepare  a 
place  for  you."  He  assumes  that  there  was  a  way ;  he  as- 
sumes that  they  all  knew  the  way  ;  but  Thomas  either  had 
foi'gotten  it,  or  had  never  fully  understood  it ;  and  therefore 
he  says,  "  Lord,  we  know  not  whither  thou  goest,  and  how 
can  we  know  the  way  ?  "  Jesus  instantly  proceeds  to  un- 
fold to  Thomas,  and  through  Thomas  to  all  believers  to  the 
end  of  the  world,  that  magnificent  announcement,  which  has 
no  echo  in  heathendom  through  all  its  extent,  and  never 
was  disclosed  till  he  thus  announced  it,  "  I  am  the  way, 
the  truth,  and  the  life ;  no  man  cometh  unto  the  Father  but 
by  me." 

How  interesting  is  the  fact,  that  Jesus  overrules  the  im- 
perfection of  his  hearers  to  the  elucidation  of  the  essential 
truths  of  the  Gospel !  If  Thomas  had  not  forgotten,  Jesus, 
humanly  speaking,  had  never  spoken.  It  is  this  fact,  that 
the  whole  Gospel  is  a  continuous  discussion  —  a  continuous 
explanation  of  difficulties  daily  suggested,  answers  to  ques- 
tions ceaselessly  put  —  which  gives  it  a  freshness  that  makes 
it  seem,  in  every  language  and  in  every  age  of  the  world, 
as  if  Jesus  were  in  the  midst  of  us  now,  and  speaking  to  us, 
as  man  never  spake,  of  the  things  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
The  New  Testament  is  not  an  essay  didactically  and  logi- 
cally unfolding  the  truths  of  Christianity ;  it  consists  of  Epis- 

(236) 


236  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

ties  written  because  of  perversions  of  the  truth  that  sprung 
up  among  those  to  whom  they  were  addressed.  Humanly 
speaking,  if  the  Corinthians  had  never  quarrelled,  the  Epis- 
tle to  the  Corinthians  had  never  been  written.  If  the  Gala- 
tians  had  not  fallen  into  Romanism  —  for  such  it  practically 
was  —  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  had  never  been  written. 
If  the  Thessalonians  had  never  misunderstood  the  coming 
of  Christ,  those  two  Epistles  had  never  been  written.  Thus 
it  was  contingent,  humanly  speaking,  upon  the  misconcep- 
tions of  man,  that  the  great  and  blessed  revelation  of  the 
will  of  God  should  be  successively  and  fully  written.  But 
has  not  this  been  the  history  and  progress  of  the  Church  of 
Christ  always  ?  If  Jerome  had  not  advocated  Monacliism 
in  the  fourth  century,  Vigilantius  and  others  had  not  so  elo- 
quently set  forth  the  truth.  If  the  Deity  of  Christ  had  not 
been  impugned  by  some  before  the  Council  of  Nice,  that 
Council  had  not  so  ably  upheld  it.  If  Romanism  had  never 
cast  its  shadow  over  the  globe,  the  magnificent  protest  that 
makes  the  truth  sharpei*,  and  clearer,  and  more  defined  by 
the  contrast,  had  never  been  uttered  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury of  the  Christian  era.  God  out  of  evil  still  educes 
good,  and  makes  the  very  eiTors  and  misconceptions  of 
man  the  dark  background  on  which  he  throws  up,  in  more 
magnificent  relief,  the  essential  and  precious  truths  of  the 
Gospel. 

When  Thomas  made  the  objection,  he  said,  "  Lord,  we 
know  not  whither  thou  goest,  and  how  can  we  know  the 
way  ?  "  Thomas  wanted  less  to  know  the  way  to  heaven, 
and  more  to  know  what  was  the  nature  of  heaven.  He  was 
less  anxious  to  find  his  way  as  a  weary  traveller  to  his  home, 
and  more  anxious  to  have  his  curiosity  gratified  about  what 
might  be  the  contents  and  the  charactei'istics  of  heaven.  Is 
it  not  too  true,  that  we  would  rather  know  curious  things 
than  learn  profitable  things  ?  we  would  rather  find  the  solu- 
tion of  many  an  interesting  problem,  than  an  answer  to  the 


jonv  XIV.  237 

deep  and  inmost  desires  and  wants  of  the  conscience  and  the 
heart.  Thomas  wanted  to  know  what  hke  heaven  was  ;  he 
cared  less  to  know  what  the  way  to  heaven  was.  Jesus,  in 
his  answer,  tells  him  nothing  about  the  nature  of  the  future 
land,  but  he  tells  him  in  the  plainest  terms  the  way  to  reach 
it.  He  as  much  as  said,  "It  is  enough  for  you,  Thomas, 
that  where  I  am  there  you  will  be  :  be  satisfied  with  this  as  a 
sufficient  heaven.  But  it  is  essential  for  you,  Thomas,  that 
you  should  know  the  way  that  leads  to  it.  The  nature  of 
the  glory  I  do  not  stop  to  delineate ;  the  way  that  you  must 
tread  in  order  to  reach  that  glory  it  is  my  prerogative  to 
unfold  to  you."  And  therefore  he  says,  "  I  am  the  way ;  no 
man  cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by  me.  This  is  a  cen- 
tral and  essential  truth.  The  way  to  heaven  —  what  a  pre- 
cious definition !  Ask  Socrates  and  Plato ;  they  are 
dumb.  Ask  Cicero  and  Seneca ;  they  are  silent.  Ask 
philosophers,  ask  science,  ask  literature ;  and  they  must 
answer  with  Thomas,  "  Lord,  we  know  not  whither  thou 
goest,  and  how  can  we  know  the  way  ? "  But  ask  Him 
whose  words  are  weighty,  who  came  from  above,  and  there- 
fore can  tell  you  the  way  by  which  you  may  ascend  above, 
and  he  answers  in  words  that  were  the  evidence  of  a  God, 
"  I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life."  How  truly  does 
this  settle  many  a  foolish  controversy  in  the  present  day ! 
Some  say,  if  not  in  words,  yet  practically,  that  the  Church 
is  the  way  to  heaven  ;  that  if  you  only  belong  to  this  Church, 
or  to  that  Church,  you  are  sure  to  get  to  heaven.  This  is  an 
erroneous  notion.  We  are  not  saved  as  members  of  a  cor- 
poration, but  as  individual  believers  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  You  may  belong  to  the  purest  Church  upon  earth, 
and  yet  not  belong  to  Christ.  The  way  to  heaven  is  not  a 
church,  nor  is  it  a  chapel.  St.  Paul's  in  London  is  not  a 
bit  nearer  heaven  than  St.  Peter's  at  Rome  ;  and  it  is  not 
one  whit  easier  to  get  to  heaven  through  St.  Paul's  than  it 
is  throu<i;h  St.  Peter's,  because  neither  the  one  nor  the  other 


238  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

is  the  way  to  heaven.  The  way  to  heaven  is  not  a  Church ; 
it  is  the  Lord  of  the  Church.  "  I  am  the  way  ;  and  no  man 
Cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by  me."  Nor  are  our  own  do- 
ings and  deservings  the  way.  If  we  could  climb  to  heaven 
by  our  own  efforts,  Christ  had  not  come  to  die  an  atonement 
for  our  sins.  If  our  own  doings  were  in  any  shape  the  way, 
Christ  would  not  have  spoken  truth  when  he  said,  "  I  am 
the  way."  Good  works  will  appear  at  every  footstep ;  but 
flowers  in  a  path  are  not  the  path  ;  they  fade,  the  path  re- 
mains. The  flowers  that  bloom  upon  it,  or  the  grass  that 
grows  green  on  it,  are  not  of  the  essence  of  the  path  ;  they 
are  only  ornaments  and  accompaniments  of  the  path.  Yet 
wherever  we  are  treading  the  true  path  that  leads  to  glory, 
we  shall  be  characterized  by  the  true  fruits  that  evidence  we 
are  the  children  of  our  Father  who  is  in  heaven. 

When  Christ  announced  in  these  words,  "  I  am  the  way," 
be  indicated  certain  great  truths.  First,  there  is  union  re- 
stored between  heaven  to  which  he  went  and  earth  that  has 
travelled  away  from  it.  Earth  was  separated  from  heaven 
by  sin,  as  an  island  struck  off  from  a  grand  continent ;  and 
a  dreary,  a  deep,  and  an  impassable  sea  of  wrath  rolls  in 
the  mid-channel  between.  Christ  Jesus  is  the  way  that 
bridges  that  deep  sea,  that  reunites  the  severed  island  to  the 
ancient  continent,  and  of  twain  antagonistic  precipices  makes 
one  holy,  united,  and  happy  one.  Ask  the  Deist,  "  How 
shall  I  cross  this  deep,  broad  chasm  ?  "  His  answer  is,  "  You 
must  risk  it."  Ask  the  Romanist,  "  How  shall  I  cross  this 
deep  chasm  that  is  between  a  sinful  world  and  a  holy  con- 
tinent ? "  and  his  answer  will  be,  "  The  Church,  aided  by 
the  Virgin  Mary,  the  suffrages  of  priests,  the  penances  you 
pay,  and  the  absolution  of  the  Church."  But  ask  the  Chris- 
tian, "  How  shall  I  get  to  heaven  ?  "  and  his  answer  is, 
"  There  is  only  one  way,  and  that  way  spans  the  chasm,  re- 
knits  the  shores  of  the  severed  land,  brings  into  union  and 
communion  those  that  were  not  only  severed,  but  antagonis- 


JOHN  XIV.  239 

tic  to  each  other ;  one  end  of  the  way,  like  Jacob's  ladder, 
resting  on  the  lowest  level  of  humanity ;  the  other  end  of 
the  way,  like  the  same  glorious  ladder,  touching  the  very 
throne  of  God,  and  enabling  them  that  are  here  in  this 
realm  of  exile  to  reach  the  heaven  that  Christ  has  gone  to 
make  ready  for  all  that  come  to  the  Father  by  him. 

There  is  implied  in  this  statement  not  only  restoration, 
but  reconciliation.  It  is  not  merely  a  pathway  provided  for 
sinners  by  which  to  cross  and  come  to  God,  but  a  revelation 
of  a  ransom  paid,  in  virtue  of  which  our  sins  are  forgiven, 
and  God  is  satisfied  with  us.  That  ransom  he  paid  on  the 
cross,  —  that  atonement  is  complete  ;  and  by  it,  and  in  virtue 
of  it,  God  can  come  to  me  and  hail  me  as  his  forgiven  son ; 
and  I  can  rise  to  him,  and  rejoice  in  him  as  ray  loving 
Father ;  and  his  Father  becomes  my  Father,  and  his  God 
becomes  my  God ;  and  we  that  were  severed,  the  offending 
and  the  offended  party,  are  made  one  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  But  when  Christ  said,  "  I  am  the  way,"  he  meant 
the  way  not  only  to  everlasting  rest,  but  also  to  the  posses- 
sion and  enjoyment  of  all  the  privileges,  the  characteristic 
marks  and  features  of  the  children  of  God.  Tliis  shows, 
therefore,  that  Christ  is  the  way,  —  not  preaches  it  only. 
We  preach  the  way,  but  he  is  the  way.  The  minister  of  the 
Gospel  preaches  himself  your  servant  for  Christ's  sake; 
but  Jesus  preaches  himself  your  way,  absolutely  and  entirely, 
to  heaven.  Christ  is  the  way  to  holiness.  There  is  no  Avay 
to  holiness  except  this  consecrated  one.  From  expediency 
you  may  put  on  this  grace,  from  convenience  you  may  put 
off  that  vice  ;  but  only  in  and  through  Christ,  by  whom  you 
have  peace  with  God,  can  you  renounce  the  lust  of  the  eye, 
the  pride  of  life,  and  the  love  of  the  world,  and  become  the 
happy  and  the  holy  ones  who  are  wending  their  way  to  God, 
to  hapj)iness,  and  to  glory.  This  way  that  Jesus  points  out, 
and  which  he  is  himself,  is  the  only  way  to  heaven.  Some 
persons,  when  they  hear  one  say  that  there  is  but  one  way 


240  SCRIPTURE    KEADIXGS. 

to  lieaven,  will  add,  "This  is  consummate  bigotry.  Are 
there  not  many  ways  to  heaven  ?  Why  should  you  claim 
the  monopoly  of  the  way  to  heaven  ?  or  why  should  you  as- 
sume that  you  are  right  in  your  idea  of  the  way  to  heaven  ?  " 
If  I  were  to  assert  that  the  Church  I  belong  to  is  the  only 
way  to  heaven,  that  would  be  bigotry ;  but  if  I  assert,  what 
the  Bible  preaches  and  proclaims,  that  Christ  is  the  way  to 
heaven,  it  is  not  bigotry,  but  duty,  to  assert  it,  and  at  all 
hazards  to  maintain  it.  I  know  that  the  latitudinarian  notion 
is,  if  a  person  be  conscientious,  he  will  not  be  condemned 
for  believing  what  may  turn  out  to  be  an  error.  A  person 
may  be  conscientiously  treading  the  Avay  that  leads  to  ruin, 
as  well  as  the  way  that  leads  to  happiness.  The  conscien- 
tiousness with  which  we  do  a  thing  proves  our  sincerity,  but 
it  does  not  prove  that  we  are  therefore  rigl)t.  If  a  person, 
thinking  that  prussic  acid  is  an  extremely  valuable  medicine, 
should  drink  a  wineglassful  of  it,  he  would  take  it  most  sin- 
,  cerely  —  nothing  could  be  more  so  ;  he  would  drink  it  from  the 
best  of  motives  ;  but  the  sincerity  with  which  he  believes  it 
calculated  to  do  him  good  does  not  take  away  from  the 
poison  its  deadly  effects,  or  save  him  from  the  death  which 
it  must  necessarily  precipitate.  And  if  this  be  so  in  physical 
things,  why  should  we  suppose  that  it  is  otherwise  in  spiritual 
and  eternal  things?  Paul  was  most  conscientious  when  he 
persecuted  the  Christians  to  death  ;  tlie  Hindoo  mother  is 
most  sincere  when  she  throws  her  babe  into  the  Ganges,  or 
the  China  woman  when  she  leaves  it  to  perish  upon  the 
streets  of  Pekin.  I  have  no  doubt  that  Pio  Nono  is  per- 
fectly sincere ;  I  have  no  doubt  that  his  Eight  Reverend 
Pro-consul  in  London  is  equally  so ;  but  the  sincerity  with 
which  they  hold  the  dogmas  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  whilst 
it  makes  me  respect  the  men  because  they  are  sincere,  con- 
strains me  no  less  to  reprobate  the  doctrines  which  dishonor 
Christ,  and  are  inconsistent  with  the  word  of  God.  Do  not 
therefore  suppose,  because  one  is  most  conscientious,  most 


JOHN    XIV.  2tl 

sincere,  that  one  is  therefore  necessarily  right  or  in  the  way 
that  leads  to  heaven.  You  will  be  told  by  others  under  the 
same  latitiidinarian  creed,  "  Let  every  man  take  his  own 
way  to  heaven  ;  why  should  you  meddle  with  other  people  ?  " 
If,  for  instance,  you  were  to  say  with  all  cliarity  to  the  Uni- 
tarian, "  You  are  not  in  the  way  to  heaven,"  instantly  the 
latitudinarian  hearer  will  exclaim,  "  How  shockingly  un- 
charitable ! "  If  you  say  to  the  Romanist,  "  You  are  not  in 
the  way  to  heaven,"  the  same  latitudinarian  hearer  will  say, 
"  AVhat  hori'id  bigots  these  Protestants  are  !  "  Let  me  dis- 
tinguish :  a  man  may  be  liberal,  but  he  need  not  be  lati- 
tudinarian. True  Christian  liberality  consists  in  seeing  a 
brother  in  Church  or  in  dissent ;  but  latitudinarianism  means 
saying,  "  Peace,  peace,"  whether  you  be  in  Church  or 
Chapel,  Mahometan,  Mufti,  Romanist,  Hindoo,  or  any  other. 
The  latitudinarian  surrenders  vital  truth ;  the  true  liberal 
Christian  will  give  up  the  largest  shell  and  husk  of  Church- 
discipline,  but  he  will  not  for  the  world  surrender  the  least 
vital  seed  of  essential  and  absolute  truth.  To  please  a 
brother,  I  will  give  up  the  ceremony  I  love  most ;  but  not 
to  please  the  w^hole  world  will  I  surrender  essential  and  vital 
truth.  I  care  not  so  much  whether  you  belong  to  Church 
of  England,  or  Church  of  Scotland,  or  Church  Independent, 
or  Church  Baptist ;  I  can  agree  to  forgive  you  your  differ- 
ences with  me  in  these  matters ;  but  if  you  do  not  belong  to 
the  Church  of  Christ,  I  must  tell  you,  whether  it  be  called 
bigotry  or  dogmatism,  or  any  thing  else,  you  are  not  in  the 
way  that  leads  to  heaven.  I  cannot,  therefore,  be  silent 
while  every  man  takes  his  own  way,  because  it  happens  that 
his  own  way  is  the  w^rong  way.  If  there  were  many  ways 
to  heaven,  then  I  should  say  to  every  man,  "  By  all  means 
take  the  road  you  like  ;  "  but  there  are  not.  It  is  quite  true 
there  are  many  ways  from  one  place  to  another  place  on 
earth.  If  I  wanted  to  go  to  Edinburgh  by  railway,  and  a 
person   said,  "  You  should  go  by   steamer,"  a  third  party 

21 


242  SCRIPTURK    HEADINGS. 

standing  by  might  sensibly  say,  "  Pray  do  not  urge  him  to 
go  by  steamer,  if  he  pi'efers  the  railway.  Let  him  do  Avhat 
he  prefers.  If  he  prefers  to  go  by  York  instead  of  Carlisle, 
let  him  go  ;  let  him  take  his  own  way  to  Edinburgh,  and  he 
cannot  go  wrong."  But  the  journey  to  heaven  is  not  like 
this  in  all  respects.  If  there  were  a  hundred  ways  to 
heaven,  let  every  man  take  his  own  way  ;  but  if  Christ  pro- 
claims, "  I  am  the  way  ;  no  man  cometh  unto  the  Father  but 
by  me,"  it  is  not  bigotry,  it  is  not  exclusiveness  —  it  is 
charity,  it  is  Christianity  —  to  say,  there  is  but  one  way  to 
heaven,  and  unless  you  are  in  it  you  never  can  see  eternal 
joy,  if  God's  word  be  true. 

This  way,  thus  announced  by  Christ,  is  by  no  means  a 
new  one.  Some  persons  have  the  idea  that  the  New  Testa-, 
ment,  as  we  call  it,  is  a  new  religion,  and  that  the  Old  Testa- 
ment is  an  obsolete  religion  superseded  by  the  New.  But 
you  might  as  well  say  that  the  apple  in  autumn  is  totally 
different  in  its  origin,  its  nature,  and  its  character,  from  the 
fragrant  blossom  of  spring.  "The  apple  is  only  the  develop- 
ment of  the  blossom.  The  New  Testament  is  not  another 
religion,  but  the  unfolding  of  the  old  and  only  religion  that 
has  been  from  the  beginning.  Abel  was  a  Christian,  Noah 
was  a  Christian,  Abraham  was  a  Christian.  There  is  a 
Gospel  according  to  Leviticus,  just  as  there  is  a  Gospel  ac- 
cording to  St.  John  :  symbol,  type,  and  shadow  in  the  one ; 
substance,  truth,  and  spirit  in  the  other ;  but  the  same  evei'- 
lasting  and  glorious  Gospel.  Noah  got  to  heaven  by  the 
same  way  by  which  you  may  reach  it.  The  way  was  not 
then  so  clearly  revealed,  but  it  was  the  same  way.  And 
this  way,  therefore,  that  Christ  is,  is  not  a  new  way.  It  was 
the  only  way  in  the  Antediluvian  Church,  in  the  Patriarchal, 
in  the  Levitical,  in  the  Prophetical,  in  the  Protestant. 
There  is  salvation  in  none  other  ;  there  is  only  one  name 
given  among  men  whereby  you  can  be  saved.  "  I  am  the 
way,  the  truth,  and  the  life  ;  no  man  cometh  unto  the  Father 
but  by  me." 


JOHN  XIV.  243 

Christ  is  not  only  tlie  ancient  way,  but  also  an  amply 
sufficient  way.  How  deeply  is  it  to  be  deploi-ed  that  Chris- 
tians, many  true  Christians,  belonging  to  different  sects  of 
the  Church  universal,  or  to  different  folds  in  the  same 
.  catholic  ffock,  seem  anxious  the  one  to  dislodge  or  to  over- 
whelm the  other !  as  if  it  were  impossible  that  all  should 
get  to  heaven  by  the  same  way,  and  many  must  be  excluded 
in  order  that  the  few  may  succeed.  If  you  are  pressing 
into  a  crowded  church,  this  may  be  the  painful  and  unpleas- 
ant alternative  ;  or  if  you  are  going  to  hear  some  beautiful 
music,  or  to  some  performance  where  a  vast  crowd  has  con- 
gregated, then  the  few  can  be  admitted,  and  the  many  in  all 
probability  must  be  excluded ;  and  one  can  forgive  a  little 
pressing  on  the  part  of  A,  and  some  little  apparent  rudeness 
on  the  part  of  B,  for  the  sake  of  the  anxiety  that  he  feels  to 
get  admission  where  he  will  be  profited  or  pleased.  But  in 
the  way  to  heaven  thei'c  need  not  be  any  crowding ;  there  is 
room,  and  j)lenty  of  room,  for  all  that  will  ;  and  if  thousands 
more  were  treading  the  holy  and  consecrated  path,  instead 
of  being  inconvenienced  for  want  of  room,  all  would  feel 
that  it  is  so  broad  that  the  greatest  number  of  the  greatest 
sinners  may  confidently  tread  it,  and  yet  so  holy  that  the 
least  sin  knowingly  indulged  cannot  be  tolerated  in  it.  "We 
require  all  the  sections  of  Christendom  to  constitute  the 
Church  of  Christ ;  and  instead  of  being  afraid  that  the 
success  of  the  Independents  will  exclude  the  Baptists,  or 
that  of  the  Baptists  exclude  the  Church,  we  ought,  while 
conscientiously  asserting  our  preferences  and  determinately 
maintaining  our  principles,  to  welcome  all  God's  people 
that  seek  to  reach  heaven  by  the  same  holy,  happy,  and 
blessed  way. 

The  way  that  leads  to  heaven  is  very  plain.  It  has  been 
beaten  smooth  by  the  feet  of  saints  and  martyrs,  and  all  that 
have  preceded  us.  The  ways  that  led  to  the  cities  of  refuge 
had  sign-posts,  and  upon  each  sign-post  there  was  written  in 


244  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

legible  characters,  "  Refuge  —  Refuge  ;  "  so  that  the  man- 
slayer  running  from  the  avenger,  wlien  he  came  to  two  ways, 
could  ascertain  which  led  to  the  city  of  refuge  by  the  sign- 
board erected  for  that  purpose.  The  way  to  heaven  is  plain, 
and  plainly  revealed.  AVhat  is  the  best  sermon  ?  The  ser- 
mon that  tells  you  this  most  plainly.  What  is  the  best  sign- 
board when  One  has  lost  the  way?  Not  the  sign-board  that 
is  most  beautifully  illuminated,  or  most  exquisitely  written 
in  mediaeval  character,  which  has  the  disadvantage  that  it 
cannot  be  read  ;  but  the  sign-board  that  may  be  written  in 
the  roughest  letters,  of  the  rudest  shape,  but  is  most  legible 
to  him  that  reads,  even  though  he  runs  while  he  reads.  So 
that  sermon,  that  preaching,  that  Church  is  most  apostolical, 
that  tells  you  in  most  apostolic  clearness  the  way  that  leads 
most  directly  to  heaven,  to  happiness,  to  God.  This  way  is 
so  plain,  and  so  plainly  revealed,  that  the  prophet  says, 
"  The  wayfaring  man  may  not  err  therein."  The  captious 
critic  may  err  in  the  apprehension  of  the  way,  the  bigot 
may  err,  the  ecclesiastic  may  err ;  but  the  man  that  wants 
only  to  know  the  way  to  heaven,  and  only  reads  the 
chart  that  gives  the  way  to  heaven,  he  will  not  err  or 
finally  fail. 

It  is  a  living  way.  The  apostle  calls  it,  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews,  "  A  new  and  living  way,  which  Christ  has 
consecrated  by  his  own  blood."  You  ask,  what  is  the  ad- 
vantage of  this  ?  If  you  walk  on  a  road  that  leads  to  a  dis- 
tant place,  the  longer  you  walk,  the  more  weary  and  ex- 
hausted you  become  ;  by  a  law  that  everybody  knows  better 
than  I  can  describe,  the  length  of  the  way  that  you  have  to 
walk  is  the  measui-e  of  the  exhaustion  you  must  necessarily 
feel.  But  the  peculiarity  of  this  way  is,  that  the  longer  you 
walk  the  stronger  you  feel.  You  do  not  give  forth  strength 
to  the  road  that  you  tread,  but  you  derive  strength  from  the 
way  on  which  you  walk,  till  you  walk  and  are  not  faint,  run 
and  are  not  weary,  go  on  from  strength  to  strength,  until  at 


JOHN  XIV.  245 

last  you  appear  before  God  in  Sion.  So  that  the  Christian 
who  has  walked  the  longest  in  the  way  is  the  least  exhausted  ; 
his  strength  grows  with  his  toils,  and  the  nearer  he  ap- 
pi'oaches  the  blessed  and  the  haiii)y  home  where  many 
mansions  are,  instead  of  being  exiiausted,  and  fatigued,  and 
faint  by  his  journey,  he  is  ready  at  one  bound  to  leap  from 
earth  to  heaven,  and  so  be  for  ever  with  tlie  Lord. 

Arc  we  in  this  way?  or,  translated,  not  into  simpler,  but 
into  more  modern  and  popular  phrase,  do  you  rest  on  Christ 
alone  for  pardon  ?  Do  you  seek  heaven  with  all  its  glory 
in  his  name  alone  ?  Do  you  plead  with  God  to  give  j'ou 
everlasting  reward,  simply  and  solely  because  Christ  has 
eatislied  the  law,  has  borne  the  curse,  has  made  atonement 
for  you,  has  brought  in  everlasting  righteousness  ?  AValking 
in  Christ  the  way  is  but  scriptural  symbolism  for  trusting  in 
Christ,  as  the  only  right  and  reason  under  the  sun  whereby 
you  can  be  admitted  into  heaven.  The  man  that  tries  to  get 
to  heaven  by  his  own  doings  is  trying  to  reach  the  skies  by 
piling  Pelion  on  Ossa  —  he  is  attempting  impossibilities. 
The  Christian  that  seeks  to  reach  to  heaven  by  Chi-ist 
the  way,  will  not  only  feel  all  the  safety  of  his  course,  but 
he  will  be  characterized,  whilst  he  walks  it,  by  whatsoever 
things  arc  imro,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  and  lovely,  and, 
of  good  report.  A  man  trying  to  get  to  heaven  by  his  own 
doings  is  like  one  condemned  to  the  treadmill ;  he  is  always 
moving,  he  is  never  making  pi-ogress.  But  he  who  seeks  to 
get  to  heaven  by  Christ  alone,  advances  while  he  trusts  ;  his 
trust  is  progress,  his  progress  is  from  strength  to  strength, 
until  grace  is  lost  in  everlasting  glory.  And  if  you  be  in 
this  way  yourselves,  are  you  trying  to  bring  others  to  it  ? 
Do  you  tell  them  of  its  goodness  ?  do  you  speak  to  them  of 
its  excellency  ?  If  you  cannot  do  it  by  speaking,  do  you  in- 
vite them  by  giving  ?  If  you  cannot  preach,  do  you  send 
out  the  missionary  to  the  Moslem,  the  Hindoo,  the  Chinese, 
as  your  representative,  or  rather  the  representative  of  Christ, 
21* 


246  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

to  preach  for  you  ?  And  if  you  feel  this  way  so  precious  to 
yourselves,  and  if  you  feel  it  so  dutiful  to  make  it  known  to 
others,  how  should  you  value  that  word  that  is  the  map  on 
which  you  can  trace  it,  —  that  ministry,  wherever  it  be,  that 
faithfully  and  fully  delineates  and  describes  it !  and  how 
should  you  seek  in  the  way  to  let  your  light  so  shine,  that 
others  seeing  your  good  works  may  glorify  your  Father 
who  is  m  heaven ! 


CHAPTER  XIV.  6. 

"I  am  tlie  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life." 

U.  — The  Teuth. 

In  the  course  of  my  introductory  remai'ks  to  this  passage, 
I  showed  that  Thomas  was  anxious  to  know  the  place  to 
which  Christ  was  going,  and  tlie  way  that  conducted  the  in- 
quirer to  it.  Jesus  answered  him  at  once,  "  I  am  the  way, 
the  truth,  and  the  life."  I  have  endeavored  to  explain 
Christ  as  the  way.  I  stated  that  sin  had  dislocated  human- 
ity from  God ;  that  the  earth  was  struck  off  frorif  the  great 
continent  of  heaven ;  and  that  Christ  Jesus  alone  is  the 
pathway  that  spans  the  gulf,  reknits  the  broken  isle  to  its 
ancient  continent,  and  so  of  twain  makes  one.  I  showed 
that  Christ  was  the  only  way,  that  he  was  the  all-sufficient 
way,  and  that  he  was  the  way  complete  and  perfect,  needing 
no  addition ;  proclaimed  amidst  the  wrecks  of  Pai'adise,  the 
moment  ■  that  Adam  Avas  convinced  of  sin,  predicted  in  the 
page  of  every  ancient  prophet,  and  destined  in  the  fulness 
of  the  times  to  be  accepted  by  all  as  the  way  to  God  and 
God's  way  to  us.  Let  us  now  notice  the  second  epithet  he 
assumes  for  himself:  "  I  am  not  only  the  way,  but  the  truth." 
The  whole  three  epithets  are  connected  with  each  other.  A 
way  would  be  useless  if  it  were  so  dark  that  we  could  not 
see  to  walk  in  it,  therefore  he  is  the  truth ;  and  a  way  illu- 
minated by  all  the  splendors  of  a  thousand  suns  would  be 
utterly  useless,  if  we  had  no  strength  to  walk  in  it,  and  there- 
fore he  is  the  life :  —  the  way  in  which  we  walk  to  heaven, 
the  truth  that  illuminates  every  footstep,  and  the  life  that  in- 

247) 


248  SCUII'TURE    READINGS. 

spires  our  exhausted  spirits,  and  enables  us  to  go  on  from 
strength  to  strength,  and  from  grace  to  grace,  till  at  last  we 
appear  before  God  in  Zion.  In  one  word,  we  are  complete 
in  Christ,  the  complete  Saviour ;  having  in  him,  from  him, 
and  by  him,  all  we  need  to  know  of  what  God  is,  all  we  need 
to  know  of  what  we  are,  and  all  that  can  be  revealed  of  the 
way  that  leads  from  the  lowliest  level  in  which  sin  has  left  us, 
to  the  loftiest  platform  in  heaven,  to  which  grace  can  possibly 
elevate  us. 

What  is  meant,  then,  by  this  expression  or  epithet,  "  the 
truth  ?  "  We  have  seen  what  is  implied  in  his  assumption, 
"I  ana  the  Avay :"  what  is  implied  in  this, "  I  am  the  truth  ?  " 
I  cannot  agree  with  those  who  say  it  means  simply,  "I  am 
the  true  Messiah  : "  this  is  to  dilute  the  expression.  I  am  not 
the  true  Messiah  only,  but  the  truth,  from  whom  all  the  rays 
of  truth  radiate,  to  whom  all  truths  return,  in  whom  all  truths 
have  theii"^iarmony  ;  out  of  whom  science  is  confusion,  phi- 
losophy is  chaos,  and  the  world  and  mankind  an  inexplicable 
labyrinth  ;  I  am  the  truth."  And  if  so,  then  he  is  the  truth, 
in  contradistinction  and  in  opposition  to  all  the  eiToneous 
systems  and  false  pretenders  that  preceded  his  advent,  and 
assumed  to  be  the  guides,  the  saviours,  or  the  directors  of 
erring  mankind.  Contrasted  with  every  system  that  claims 
to  be  from  God,  Christianity  is  true ;  in  opposition  to  every 
one  that  assumes  to  be  a  Messiah,  Christ  is  the  truth.  What 
is  heathendom  ?  A  gigantic  and  an  overshadowing  falsehood, 
the  corruption  of  truths  that  were  primitive,  the  invention  of 
falsehoods  that  never  were.  There  is  not  a  niche'  in  the 
pantheon  that  will  bear  shining  on  it  the  light  of  God's  truth. 
The  darkness  is  its  element,  sensuality  its  proper  sphere, 
ruin  to  souls  and  injury  to  mankind  its  only  possible  results. 

Christ  is  the  truth  in  opposition  to  Mahometanism.  What 
is  Mahometanism  ?  A  mixture  of  Judaism,  Christianity,  and 
Paganism  ;  a  composite  of  truths  and  errors,  in  which  tlie 
truths  are  overcast,  and  the  errors  alone  are  predominant ; 


joiix  XIV.  249 

that  came  in  a  desolating  tlood  from  Bagdad,  on  the  banks 
of  the  Euphrates  ;  that  ebbs  and  dries  up  beneath  the  beams 
of  that  Sun  that  begins  to  shine  upon  Eastern  plains  ;  and 
that  veiy  soon  will  make  way  for  the  march  of  God's  ancient 
people  to  their  native  land,  and  for  the  diffusion  of  that  bles- 
sed Gospel,  to  the  brightness  of  which  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth  shall  yet  come.  Christ  is  the  truth,  also,  in  opposition 
to  Romanism.  What  is  Romanism  ?  A  mixture  of  pre- 
cious truth  and  pernicious  error;  the  truth  the  preamble, 
error  the  main  body  ;  truth  its  preface  to  deceive,  error  its 
substance  that  you  must  accept ;  every  truth  made  of  no 
effect  by  a  corresponding  ez-ror,  and  the  word  of  God  made 
a  panderer  to  the  superstitions,  the  follies,  and  the  falsehoods 
of  man.  In  opposition  to  all  these,  Christ  is  the  truth  ;  and 
in  proportion  as  Christianity  prevails,  these  systems  must  die. 
Our  religion  is  not  Christianity  so  much  as  Christ ;  we  preach 
not  a  creed,  but  Christ.  Our  Gospel  is  the  knowledge,  not 
of  a  system,  but  the  saving  knowledge  of  a  personal  Saviour. 
Hence  the  answer  to  the  question,  "  What  must  I  do  to  be 
saved  ?  "  is  not,  "  Subscribe  this  creed ;  believe  in  that  dogma ; 
accept  justification  by  faith ;  "  but  it  is,  "  Believe  iu  Christ, 
the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life." 

Christ  is  the  truth  in  this  respect,  that  he  is  the  truth  and 
fulfdment  of  all  ancient  prophecy.  Take  the  first  prophecy 
pronounced  amid  the  wrecks  of  Eden  onwards  to  the  last 
proclaimed  by  Malachi,  when  he  saw  the  first  beams  of  the 
rising  Sun  kindling  the  distant  mountain  crags  ;  and  you 
find  in  Christ  the  truth,  the  complement,  the  fulfilment  of 
them  all.  These  predictions  grew  in  brightness  till  Christ 
came ;  they  are  inexplicable  except  in  his  light.  It  is  im- 
possible to  harmonize  Isaiah  with  himself,  or  Isaiah  with 
Daniel,  except  you  look  at  both  shining  in  the  light,  and  cov- 
ered with  the  lustre  of  Christ,  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the 
life.  In  one  passage,  Isaiah  tells  us,  he  is  to  suffer ;  in 
another,  he  is  to  reign  over  all  the  earth.     In  one  chapter 


250  SCRIPTUPcE    RKADIXGS. 

he  speaks  of  liini  as  dying ;  in  another  chapter  he  speaks  of 
him  as  Hving  for  ever  and  ever.  Daniel  speaks  of  him  as 
"  the  Son  of  Man,  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  with  power 
and  great  glory."  Isaiah  speaks  of  him  as  "  wounded  for 
our  transgressions,"  as  "despised  and  rejected  of  men." 
How  is  it  possible  to  harmonize '  these  two  ?  If  Christ  be 
mere  man,  if  Christ  be  not  the  Saviour,  if  he  be  not  the  truth 
of  these,  holy  men  of  old  did  not  write  as  they  were  moved 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God.  But  the  moment  all  the  prophets 
gather  round  the  cross,  and  bear  their  testimony  to  Jesus, 
closed  with  those  accents  of  mingled  agony  and  mingled  vic- 
tory, "  It  is  finished !  "  a  new  light  is  cast  upon  them  all ; 
each  recognizes  in  Christ  the  burden  of  his  prophecy ;  and 
all  behold  the  Lamb  of  God  as  the  end  of  their  predictions, 
the  object  of  their  hopes,  the  all  and  in  all  of  ancient  prophets, 
and  of  living  and  of  modern  saints  ;  so  that,  reading  the 
prophecies  in  the  light  of  Christ,  you  see  not  only  that  Christ 
is  the  Messiah,  or  the  truth  of  them,  but  that  their  hearts 
were  inspired  by  Him  to  whom  the  future  and  the  past  are 
equally  and  perfectly  luminous, 

K  you  could  conceive  a  splendid  statue  to  be  made,  and  a 
fragment  of  the  marble  to  be  chiselled  in  successive  centu- 
ries of  the  world ;  a  fragment  to  be  made  in  one  city  and  in 
one  age,  a  fi-agment  in  another  city  in  another  age,  by  dif- 
ferent sculptors,  without  collusion,  without  communication, 
without  compact ;  and  if,  after  the  lapse  of  4,000  years,  all 
these  sculptors,  who  lived  in  different  lands,  breathed  the  air 
of  different  climes,  had  different  tastes,  educations,  and  pre- 
cedents, were  to  meet  together,  each  with  the  fragment  of  the 
marble  statue  he  had  chiselled  ;  and  when  all  were  put  to- 
gether, they  were  to  form  the  Apollo  Belvidere,  or  some 
other  magnificent  creation  of  the  ancient  chisel,  what  would 
be  your  inference  ?  You  would  say,  "  It  is  impossible  to  ac- 
count for  tiie  perfect  harmony  of  all,  the  exquisite  symmetry 
of  the  figure,  the  perfect  adaptation  of  limb  to  limb,  of  fea- 


JOHN    XIV.  251 

ture  to  feature,  except  upon  the  hypothesis  that  a  presiding 
Sculptor  in  the  skies  inspired  each,  gave  the  model  to  each, 
controlled  every  stroke  of  the  hammer,  directed  every  move- 
ment of  the  chisel,  and  that  God  must  have  been  with  them 
guiding  them  of  a  truth." 

Pvvery  prophet  gives  his  testimony  to  the  Son  of  God,  in 
diiferent  ages,  in  different  countries,  under  different  circum- 
stances. One  describes  one  feature,  another  another  feature  ; 
one  describes  a  fact  in  his  biography,  another  delineates  ap- 
parently a  contradictoiy  one  ;  but  when  they  all  gather  round 
tlie  cross,  they  so  beautifully  combine,  so  symmetrically  fit  the 
one  to  the  other,  that  you  find  each  prophet  has  been  uncon- 
sciously sketching,  not  an  earthly  portrait,  or  a  beautiful  cre- 
ation of  human  genius,  but  the  brightness  of  the  Father's 
glory,  and  the  express  image  of  his  person.  So  that  the 
comparison  tells  in  two  ways  :  first,  that  Christ  is  the  Mes- 
siah delineated  in  ancient  prophecy  ;  and  secondly,  that  the 
prophets  that  so  delineated  him  wrote  as  they  were  moved 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God. 

Christ  is  the  truth  not  only  of  all  the  ancient  prophecies, 
but  of  all  the  ancient  types.  Prophecies  and  promises  were, 
God  audibly  promising  Christ;  types  and  shadows  were  the 
footprints  of  Christ  upon  the  sands  of  time,  as  he  came  to 
seek  and  to  save  sinners  that  were  lost.  Now,  cut  off  the  New 
Testament  from  the  Old,  and  Leviticus  is  inexplicable.  I 
never  could  believe,  in  the  absence  of  the  New  Testament, 
that  the  God  who  inspired  and  wrote  on  stone  that  magnificent 
thing  the  Moral  Law,  would  ever  condescend  to  prescribe  and 
record  that  childish  and  trifling  thing,  appai'ently,  in  itself,  the 
Book  of  Leviticus.  But  Avhen  I  admit  the  New  Testament  to 
cast  its  light  upon  the  Old,  —  when  I  gaze  on  the  countenance 
of  Moses  in  the  glory  that  streams  from  the  countenance  of 
Christ,  I  see  that  Leviticus  is  worthy  of  the  God  that  inspired 
the  moral  law,  and  tliat  the  Gospel  is  there  in  dim  pretigura- 
tion,  just  as  the  Gospel  is  here  life  and  immortality  clearly  and 


252  SCRIPTUUK    READINGS. 

sharply  brought  to  light.  Refer  back,  then,  to  those  ancient 
types,  and  see  how  beautifully  and  clearly  they  point  to  Christ 
as  the  truth.  The  paschal  lamb  tells  you  of  his  atonement ; 
the  rock  in  the  desert  speaks  of  the  refreshing  streams  that  flow 
from  him  ;  the  manna  that  fell  like  the  dew  from  the  skies 
.is  the  symbol  of  the  bread  of  life ;  the  high-priest  in  the 
holy  of  holies  is  the  prefiguration  of  our  great  High-Priest; 
the  holy  of  holies  is  the  picture  of  the  chancel  of  the  universe, 
where  Christ  now  is  pleading  and  interceding  for  us ;  the 
morning  and  the  evening  sacrifice  is  the  true  Lamb  of  God 
that  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world.  All  these  ancient 
and  beautiful  prefigurations,  like  dim  and  misty  shadows  in 
the  moonliglit  of  ages  that  have  passed  away,  were  meant  to 
teach  the  Jew  that  the  substance  was  yet  to  come,  and  to 
lift  his  heart  from  his  thraldom,  and  his  bondage,  and  his 
burdensome  ceremonial,  to  that  blessed  day  when  neither  on 
this  mountain,  nor  on  that,  should  men  worship  the  Father, 
but  all  should  recognize  him  in  Christ  as  a  Spirit,  Avhom  all 
should  worship  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  These  types  were  not 
substitutes  for  Christ,  but  witnesses  to  him.  It  is  a  great 
mistake  to  think  the  spiritual  Jew  trusted  in  the  sacrifice  that 
was  offered  on  his  altar,  as  if  that  were  his  atonement ;  and 
it  is  only  paralleled  by  the  modern  mistake,  that  looks  to  Bap- 
tism, as  if  that  were  regeneration  ;  and  to  the  Lord's  Supper, 
as  if  that  were  the  Son  of  God,  the  Saviour  of  sinners.  The 
true  Jew  did  not  rest  on  his  sacrifice ;  he  used  it  as  a  help 
to  see  the  great  Sacrifice :  the  Christian  does  not  rest  upon 
the  communion  table,  but  uses  it  as  a  loftier  platform,  from 
which  he  may  catch  from  afar  a  brighter  view  of  Ilim  to 
whose  past  death  it  looks  back,  and  to  whose  future  coming 
it  constantly  looks  forward.  And  for  the  Jew  to  trust  in  his 
sacrifice,  was  to  trust  in  that  which  was  no  savior ;  and  for 
the  Christian  to  look  to  his  sacrament  for  salvation,  is  to  dis- 
lodge Christ  by  the  very  rite  and  ceremony  he  has  instituted 
to  reveal,  proclaim,  and  prefigure  him.     The  Jew  had  liis 


JOHN  XIV.  253 

sacrifices,  tlirougli  which,  prospectively,  he  looked  forward 
to  Christ ;  the  Christian  has  his  sacraments,  through  which, 
retrospectively,  he  looks  back  to  Christ :  but  Abraham,  the 
earliest  of  believers,  and  the  saint  that  fell  asleep  the  other 
day,  both  beheld  with  one  heart,  and  one  common  trust, 
and  with  one  grand  and  blessed  result,  the  same  Lamb 
of  God  that  taketh  away  tlie  sins  of  the  Avorld.  There 
never  was  but  one  true  rehgion ;  there  never  was  but  one 
way  to  heaven ;  there  never  was  but  one  light  to  illuminate 
the  footsteps  of  pilgrims,  as  they  wend  their  way  to  the  many 
mansions  of  their  Father's  home.  The  Old  Testament  is 
moonlight ;  the  New  Testament  is  sunlight.  The  future  age 
Avill  be  not  sunlight  horizontal,  where  the  sun  has  only  just 
risen  above  the  horizon,  not  sunlight  vertical,  where  there  will 
be  no  shadow,  but  all  will  be  light,  and  life,  and  joy,  and  peace. 
Thus  Christ  is  the  truth  of  all  ancient  prophecy,  the  truth 
of  all  ancient  types,  and  the  truth  of  which  all  created  things 
are  the  fragments.  You  must  often  have  noticed  in  the 
New  Testament,  how  Christ  employs  the  things  of  nature 
that  appear  accidentally  to  come  in  his  Avay,  to  set  forth  the 
higher  and  the  holier  things  of  a  brighter  and  a  better  wox'ld. 
It  is  not  that  he  consecrated  the  earth  to  be  a  mirror  of 
things  he  taught,  but  the  earth  was  originally  made  to  be  so  ; 
and  wherever  the  earth  fails  to  shadow  forth  Christ,  it  is  be- 
cause the  bright  mirror  has  been  broken,  or  the  breath  of 
sin  has  dimmed  it,  or  the  clouds  of  transgression  shade  and 
obscure  the  light  that  shines  from  heaven  upon  it.  Every 
rose  that  scents  the  garden  is  but  a  faint  picture,  a  dim 
portrait  cast  down  to  earth,  of  the  Rose  of  Sharon  ;  every  star 
that  shines  like  a  gera  in  the  firmament  above  you,  is  but  a 
missionary  come  forth  to  tell  you  how  bright,  how  beautiful  is 
the  Bright  and  the  Morning  Star  ;  and  all  the  streams  of  the 
earth,  and  the  ocean  with  its  ever-sleepless  eye,  the  winds  in 
their  richest  symphonies,  and  nature  in  its  grandest  harmonies, 
were  all  meant  to  set  forth  Him  who  is  the  Head  of  all, 

22 


254  SCRIPTURE    READIXGS. 

and  by  whom  and  for  whom  all  things  exist.  And  when 
his  consecrating  footsteps  shall  touch  it  again,  when  his  holy 
hand  shall  tune  the  delicate  strings  of  this  grand  but  broken 
harp,  its  ancient  harmonies  will  be  restored,  its  primeval 
order  will  return  ;  and  nature,  God's  made  book,  and  the 
Bible,  God's  written  book  —  twin  faithful  witnesses  —  shall 
equally,  and  Avith  equal  eloquence,  proclaim  the  glory  of 
Him  that  made  the  one,  and  the  yet  richer  grace  of  Him 
that  redeemed  us  with  his  precious  blood. 

Christ  is  not  oidy  the  truth  of  all  things,  to  Avhom  all 
things  point,  but  he  is  the  truth  as  the  revealer  and 
the  manifestation  of  God  the  Father.  What  is  Christ  to 
the  Father  ?  Just  what  a  woi'd  is  to  my  thoughts,  what  a 
deed  is  to  my  life.  What  is  a  word  ?  A  thought  made  au- 
dible. What  is  a  deed  ?  A  word  incarnate,  embodied, 
made  palpable  evidence  to  man.  Who  is  Christ?  The 
Word  of  God  —  and  literally  so,  fully  so.  He  can  say,  "  He 
that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father."  His  lessons  are 
transcripts  from  the  Book  of  Life ;  his  words  are  echoes  of 
what  God  has  said.  Jesus  in  all  his  character  is  not  a  profile 
of  God,  but  the  full  portrait  of  what  God  the  Father  is. 
What  a  blessed  thought !  "  He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen 
the  Father ;  he  that  hath  heard  me  hath  heard  the  Father ; 
he  that  comprehends  me  comprehends  the  Father."  If  I 
Avant  to  see  the  Father's  power,  I  see  it  when  Jesus  moved 
upon  the  waters,  and  they  recognized  their  Maker,  and  slept 
like  infants  at  his  bidding ;  if  I  want  to  know  the  Father's 
bounty,  I  see  him  turning  tlie  few  loaves  into  food  for  thou- 
sands, and  feeding  the  hungry  multitude  in  the  desert.  If  I 
want  to  see  the  Father's  love  —  "  Greater  love  hath  no  man 
than  this,  that  a  man  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends." 
"  For  a  good  man  some  would  even  dare  to  die  ;  but  God 
commended  his  love  to  us,  in  that,  Avhile  we  were  yet  sinners, 
Christ  died  for  us."  There  is  no  way  of  knowing  what 
God  is  perfectly,  except  by  studying,  comprehending  Christ, 


JOHN  XIV.  ■  255 

as  he  is  revealed  in  the  New  Testament  Scriptures.  If  you 
look  at  God  as  he  is  revealed  in  creation,  you  cannot  form  a 
just  and  harmonious  apprehension  of  what  he  is,  not  be- 
cause God  is  changed,  but  because  creation  is  marred,  and 
mutilated,  and  broken.  You  catch  here  a  glance  that  fells 
you  God  must  be  good ;  but  you  see  there  the  storm  that 
tells  you  he  must  be  angry.  In  the  sweet  sunshine  of  June, 
you  think  of  God  as  all  love  ;  but  in  the  clouds,  the  storms, 
the  hurricanes  of  autumn,  you  cannot  but  infer,  with  equal 
logic,  that  God  is  angry.  You  listen  to  the  lark  rising  with 
soaring  wing  to  the  skies,  and  filling  the  whole  atmosphere 
with  his  sweet  music  ;  and  you  say,  "  How  good  must  be 
the  Being  who  made  that  cx'eature,  and  makes  it  thus  to  over- 
run with  song!  "  But  you  see  the  hawk  dash  down  like  a 
thunderbolt  upon  it,  rend  it  to  atoms ;  and,  with  equal  con- 
sistency, you  must  infer,  "  How  angry  must  the  God  be  Avho 
has  made  a  creature  to  feed  upon  the  bird,  and  to  spend  its 
life  in  the  destruction  of  another  creature  that  he  also  made  !  " 
In  other  words,  the  portrait  of  God  as  sketched  by  nature  is 
imperfect,  mutilated,  discordant. 

Again,  the  porti'ait  of  God  as  given  in  the  law  is  hostile. 
The  lightning  is  the  coronal  of  Sinai,  the  thunder  is  its  voice, 
WTath  its  atmosphere ;  and  even  meek  Moses  quakes,  and 
the  people  pray  that  they  may  not  hear  the  words  any  more. 
But  when  you  look  at  Christ,  you  find  God  just  as  he  is  seen 
on  Sinai,  beneficent  as  you  can  discover  him  in  nature,  but 
also  holy,  loving,  merciful ;  justifying  the  sinner,  yet  punish- 
ing the  sin  ;  magnifying  the  law,  yet  pardoning  the  law- 
breaker ;  just  whilst  he  forgives,  as  when  he  condemns: 
mercy  and  truth  are  met  together,  righteousness  and  peace 
have  met  and  kissed  each  other.  Except  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament, I  cannot  discover  how  it  is  possible  for  God  to  for- 
give me,  and  yet  remain  what  he  must  remain,  if  law  has 
any  meaning,  if  creation  has  any  harmony,  or  the  universe 
any  government  —  a  holy,  just,   and  righteous    Being.      I 


256  SCRIPTCUK    READINGS. 

naturally  ask,  before  I  have  read  ray  New  Testament,  "  Will 
God  punish  all  sinners?"  You  answer,  "That  is  surely 
impossible,  or  he  would  not  have  spared  us  so  long."  Then 
will  God  save  all  sinners  ?  Tiiat  we  can  scarcely  suppose, 
because  then,  if  every  man  will  be  saved,  every  man  may 
live  independent  of  and  contrary  to  the  Gospel.  Then  how 
high  will  his  justice  rise  in  punishing,  how  deep  will  his 
mercy  descend  in  forgiving?  What  is  the  greatest  sin  that 
he  will  bow  down  to  pardon  ?  What  is  the  least  sin  that  he 
will  rise  up  to  punish?  You  cannot  answer;  but  when  you 
know  what  Christ  is  —  that  he  has  paid  all  that  we  owed  to 
God,  and  procured  from  God  more  than  God  promised  to 
us  —  that  he  has  borne  our  cui'se,  and  exhausted  it  —  that 
he  is  our  Representative,  the  Second  Adam,  and  thus  gives 
to  all  that  believe  in  him  righteousness,  and  peace,  and  joy, 
even  as  all  that  are  by  nature  in  the  first  Adam  inherit 
misery  and  wrath,  and  tribulation  and  woe  —  I  can  see  in 
that  blessed  Saviour  not  only  the  truth,  but  the  harmony  of 
God ;  I  can  learn  how  God  can  be  just  and  holy  and  true, 
while  he  forgives  and  justifies  and  accepts  the  greatest  sin- 
ner that  believes  on  Jesus. 

Christ  is  not  only  the  truth  in  contradistinction  to  all  error, 
—  the  truth  of  ancient  types,  the  truth  because  the  fulfil- 
ment of  ancient  prophecies,  the  truth  because  the  revelation 
and  apocalypse  of  God,  —  but  he  is  also  distinctively  the 
truth.  There  are  many  truths,  and  yet  he  is  the  truth. 
We  must  learn  not  only  to  distinguish  truth  from  error,  but 
to  distinguish  truth  from  truth.  There  are  some  truths  that 
you  may  deny,  from  your  ignorance,  and  yet  not  perish 
everlastingly  in  consequence  :  there  are  other  truths  that  lie 
upon  the  outside  of  religion,  and  about  wliich  the  best  and 
the  most  gifted  of  mankind  have  frequently  erred  and  been 
mistaken.  It  is  a  truth  that  two  and  two  make  four ;  it  is  a 
truth  the  sun  sets  and  rises :  but  your  acceptance  of  these 
in  your  minds  does  not  affect  you,  because,  whether  you  ac- 


JOHN    XTV.  207 

cept  them  or  not,  you  are  the  same,  and  they  are  true. 
But  tliese  truths  ai'c  not  to  be  placed  in  the  same  category 
with  Christ  the  truth.  You  may  know  all  the  truths  that 
are  subsidiary  to  Christianity,  and  yet  perish  ;  but  if  you 
know  Christ  the  truth,  in  all  the  fulness  of  his  person,  but 
err  in  the  subsidiary  and  circumstantial  things,  you  are  safe 
and  liap])y  notwithstanding.  "You  may  be  acquainted  with  all 
the  worlds  that  the  telescope  brings  within  your  horizon,  and 
yet  not  be  in  Christ.  You  may  be  acquainted  with  all  the 
discourses  of  theology,  with  the  structure  of  minerals,  the 
fragrance,  the  tints,  and  the  properties  of  flowers,  all  the 
medicines  in  the  best  pharmacopoeia,  and  all  the  knowledge 
in  the  richest  cyclopaedia,  and  yet  you  may  not  know  that 
which  the  lowest  form  in  our  Sunday  scJiool  knows —  Christ 
the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life.  Secular  knowledge  is  power ; 
sanctided  knowledge  is  life,  and  peace,  and  joy  for  ever. 
By  all  means  teach  your  children,  teach  mankind,  the  wis- 
dom of  this  world.  Christianity  has  nothing  to  fear  from 
that ;  on  the  contrary,  it  has  every  thing  to  gain  from  it ; 
and  the  more  men  know,  depend  upon  it,  the  more  they  will 
appreciate  and  the  more  they  will  value,  Avhen  guided  to 
study  it,  that  blessed  book  which  is  a  hundred  thousand 
miles  in  advance  of  the  age,  not  an  inch  or  an  atom  behind 
it.  For  if  you  will  study  all  that  has  been  investigated  in 
the  past,  the  bright  and  brilliant  discoveries  in  the  present, 
you  will  see  that  instead  of  injuring  one  word  of  this  blessed 
Gospel,  they  cast  new  light  upon  it,  show  it  at  new^  angles, 
illustrate  parts  that  were  not  understood,  harmonize  parts 
that  were  thought  to  be  inconsistent,  and  clear  and  indicate 
the  whole  as  actual  history,  if  not  the  inspiration  of  God 
himself.  It  is  not  therefore,  I  say,  that  we  doubt  wliat  will 
be  the  effect  of  the  growing  knowledge  of  the  age.  I  am 
convinced  that  all  the  chemists  of  the  world,  all  its  philoso- 
phers, all  its  geologists,  all  its  astronomers,  will  one  day, 
under  a  new  and  heavenly  inspiration,  admit,  "  Tiiy  word, 

22* 


268  SCRIPTURE    RlCAttlXGS. 

O  God,  is  true,  and  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is  tlie  way,  the  truth, 
and  the  life."  And  every  age  is  evidence  of  this ;  because, 
when  some  great  discovery  was  made  a  hundred  years  ago, 
men  trembled  lest  the  foundations  of  Christianity  should  be 
shaken.  Better  acquaintance  brought  them  to  a  clearer  ap- 
prehension of  the  harmony  between  God's  written  word  and 
God's  created  world.  But  what  we  feel  is,  that  if  mere 
secular  knowledge  be  taught  in  our  schools,  in  our  halls,  in 
our  colleges  —  if  it  be  not  sustained,  saturated,  pervaded, 
sanctified  by  scriptural  and  Christian  knowledge  —  we  do 
not  fear  that  Christianity  will  suffer,  but  that  men  will  suffer 
for  want  of  the  knowledge  of  it.  It  is  not  for  the  safety  of 
the  Gospel  that  we  insist  upon  the  necessity  of  all  education 
being  scriptural,  but  it  is  for  the  safety  of  them  who  shall 
have  been  acquainted  with  nature's  laws,  but  not  nature's 
God  —  who  shall  learn  their  duty  to  their  country,  but  not 
their  destinies,  their  hopes,  and  prospects  beyond  it.  Take 
away  from  our  schools  and  our  universities  the  Christian  re- 
ligion as  the  basis  and  the  pervading  element  of  them  all,  and 
you  take  the  sun  from  his  socket  at  mid-day,  you  exhaust  the 
very  atmosphere  of  its  oxygen,  and  you  leave  only  that 
which  will  prove  poisonous  in  its  stead.  May  God  grant 
that  our  schools  may  never  open  without  prayer,  that  they 
may  never  close  without  praise  ;  that  every  lesson  may  be 
inspired  with  the  richest  and  the  best  lesson  ;  and  that  none 
shall  ever  be  placed  in  such  a  position  that  they  will  be 
allowed  to  teach  a  child  every  thing  upon  earth  except  that 
which  Timothy  learned  from  his  mother  and  grandmother, 
and  wliich  made  him  first  a  Christian,  and  then  an  evangelist 
and  minister  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


CHAPTER  XIV.   G. 

"  lam  the  Way,  the  Tncth,  and  the  Lift." 

III.  —  TuE  Life. 

This  last  epithet  crowns  and  completes  the  first  two. 
Each  of  the  others  would  be  incomplete  and  imperfect  with- 
out the  last ;  it  is  their  crown,  their  coronal,  their  comple- 
ment. What  would  be  the  use  of  a  way,  however  direct  and 
.sure  in  its  course  to  glory,  if  no  truth  shone  upon  the  trav- 
ellers that  tread  it  ?  and  what  would  be  the  use  of  truth 
shining  on  the  way,  if  there  wei-e  no  life  in  the  jiilgrims  that 
marched  from  grace  to  the  realms  of  glory  ?  But  having 
three,  we  have  the  complete  provision  for  the  salvation  of 
the  worst,  for  the  glorification  of  the  guiltiest  that  believe  in 
Jesus  —  the  way  by  which  we  walk  to  heaven,  the  truth 
that  lights  us  on  our  way,  and  the  life  that  quickens  us  whilst 
we  slowly  but  surely  beat  that  way  to  our  Father's  home 
and  our  Redeemer's  presence. 

Having  seen  in  what  sense  Christ  is  the  way,  and  the 
truth,  let  us  try  to  ascertain  in  what  sense  he  is  the  life. 
He  is  the  fountain  of  all  spiritual  life.  Just  as  in  God  we 
live,  and  move,  and  have  our  natural  being,  so  in  Christ  we 
live,  and  move,  and  have  our  spiritual  being.  Every  pulse 
of  the  heart,  every  inspiration  of  the  lungs,  every  vital  ener- 
gy within  us,  is  traceable  to  God.  So  every  spiritual  joy, 
every  holy  hope  that  shoots  beyond  the  stars,  every  desire 
that  nothing  earthly  can  satisfy,  every  sympathy  with  God, 
with  holiness,  with  happiness,  with  peace,  are  the  evidences 
of  a  life  traceable  like  a  stream  to  its  fountain,  the  Lord 

(259) 


260  SCniTTURK    KEAPINGS. 

Jesus  Christ.  But  he  is  the  life  in  a  still  higher  sense.  He 
is  not  only  the  fountain  of  life,  but  he  is  the  very  substance 
of  our  life.  What  says  the  apostle  ?  "  When  Christ  who 
is  our  life  shall  appear,  then  shall  we  appear  with  him  in 
glory."  And  in  another  passage,  still  more  strikingly,  "  I 
live  ; "  but,  lest  that  should  look  like  self-praise,  "  I  live,  yet 
not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me  ;  and  the  life  that  I  live  is 
through  the  power  "  —  the  virtue  —  "  of  the  Son  of  God, 
who  loved  me  and  gave  himself  for  me."  So  that  a  Chris- 
tian is  connected  with  Christ ;  Christianity  is  not  sub- 
scription to  a  creed,  profession  of  a  name,  adhesion  to  a 
Church,  but  vital,  actual  union  to  Christ  the  life.  As  the 
branch  has  all  its  vital  sap  fi-om  the  stem  on  whicli  it  grows, 
and  as  the  blossom  is  only  the  development  of  that  sap  into 
its  fragrant  coronal,  and  the  fruit  only  the  end  and  the  com- 
plement of  all ;  so  a  Christian  has  his  life  and  its  develop- 
ment as  a  branch  of  the  vine  ;  and  all  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit 
are  borne  by  him  in  the  warmth  and  light  of  the  unsetting 
Sun,  and  through  the  living  virtue  of  Christ  the  Vine,  to  the 
glory  of  God,  —  the  fragrance  that  exhales  from  them  indi- 
cating the  source  of  their  life,  and  thereby  giving  praise  to 
Him  who  is  the  life  of  all. 

Having  seen  in  what  sense  Christ  is  our  life,  let  me  no- 
tice some  of  the  characteristics  of  tliis  life,  in  order  that  we 
may  ascertain  if  we  be  living  branches  of  that  true  Vine,  — 
living  limbs  of  that  true  Body,  —  members  of  that  only 
everlasting  and  glorious  Head,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  All 
life  is  an  inner  principle.  Life  is  not  an  impulse  communi- 
cated from  without,  but  a  principle  within  that  makes  itself 
felt  without.  An  automaton  moves  with  all  the  precision  of 
a  living  man  ;  but  the  impulse  is  from  machinery  external 
to  itself,  not  from  vitality  peculiar  to  itself.  A  liypocrite 
acts  the  Christian  ;  but  his  are  colors  superinduced  from 
without,  —  a  mask  put  upon  the  face,  —  an  appearance  out- 
side that  has  no  counterpart  within ;  he  is  not  a  Chi-istian 


JOHX  XIV.  2G1 

from  an  inward  principle  of"  life.  A  Christian  has  a  princi- 
ple, a  vital  principle  within,  that  constantly  acts  and  con- 
strains him ;  and  he  does  what  is  right,  not  because  it  is  ex- 
pedient, but  because  he  cannot  help  it.  It  is  the  spontane- 
ous expression  and  unfolding  of  his  inmost  nature.  When 
a  Christian  lives  a  divine  life,  he  lives  according  to  the  laws 
of  that  new  nature  he  has  received  from  God.  You  thei'c- 
fore  can  ask  yourselves,  when  you  do  what  is  right,  when  you 
give  to  the  claims  of  the  poor,  contribute  to  the  spi'ead  of 
the  Gospel,  do  you  do  so  because  you  would  not  like  to  be 
behind  others,  or  because  it  is  habit  ?  or  because  an  inner 
spring,  inexhaustible  as  the  source  from  which  it  is  sustained, 
prompts  you  to  lay  your  contributions  on  the  Altar  that  con- 
secrates the  gift,  and  to  give  it,  not  because  it  is  expedient, 
but  because  it  is  your  veiy  nature  to  sympathize  with  all  that 
suffer,  and  to  minister  to  the  wants  of  them  that  be  needy  ? 

A  second  evidence  of  life  is,  that  all  life  —  true  natural, 
vegetable,  or  animal  life  —  has  a  power  of  assimilation,  which 
enables  it  to  draw  nutriment  from  appropriate  things,  and 
to  consolidate  that  nutriment  into  its  own  strength,  and  bulk, 
and  progress.  If  we  have  true  life  in  our  hearts  —  the  life 
of  which  Christ  is  the  substance  and  source  —  that  life  will 
feed  upon  that  only  which  is  congenial  to  its  nature,  and 
contributes  to  its  growth.  The  Christian  will  not  be  satis- 
fied with  sermons  that  are  full  of  splendid  husks  ;  what  he 
needs  is  living  bread.  He  will  not  be  pleased  with  a  cis- 
tern, liowever  beautiful,  if  it  be  broken  and  can  hold  no 
water.  Not  all  the  paintings  of  Raphael,  or  Guido,  or  Ru- 
bens, will  please  a  Christian  in  the  church  in  which  there  is 
no  Gospel ;  nor  all  the  music  of  the  greatest  masters  will 
delight  him,  where  there  is  no  spiritual  worship.  He  comes 
to  the  house  of  God  not  to  find  beauty  for  the  senses,  but 
bread  for  his  soul,  —  for  living  bread  he  cannot  do  without. 
It  is  always  a  sign  of  a  vitiated  taste,  or  of  an  ebbing  life, 
when  a  Christian  cannot  be  pleased  with  the  simple  exhibi- 


262  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

tion  of  the  truth,  or  needs  a  more  splendid  vehicle  to  make 
that  truth  palatable  to  him.  Whenever  a  person  cannot  eat 
plain  food,  and  take  his  ordinary  meals  just  as  they  are,  but 
needs  strong  stimulants  and  condiments,  it  is  a  sign  of  wasted 
powers,  of  lowered  health,  or  ebbing  vitality  ;  so  when  a 
Christian  cannot  be  satisfied  with  the  simple  bread  of  his 
Father's  house,  but  needs  the  condiments  of  great  eloquence, 
the  stimulants  of  splendid  rhetoric,  or  any  other  appliances 
of  the  same  sort,  it  is  an  evidence  of  declining  spiritual 
health.  "  The  new-born  babe  desii-es  the  sincere  "  —  that 
i?,  the  unmixed  —  "  milk  of  the  word,  that  it  may  grow  there- 
by." How  suggestive  is  that  single  remark  !  Nothing  else 
will  please  that  babe,  nothing  else  can  be  a  substitute.  So  do 
Christians  seek  living  bread,  living  water,  the  sincere  milk  ; 
and  if  they  have  the  life  of  Christ  in  its  highest  beat  and  in 
its  greatest  force,  they  will  prefer  a  sermon  that  conveys 
bread,  however  humble  the  rhetoric  of  it,  to  a  splendid  ora- 
tion that  regales  the  ear,  but  sends  the  hungry  empty  away, 
and  unfilled  with  good  things. 

This  life  v.'ithin  us  will  always  hold  communion  with  life. 
By  a  great  law  we  are  all  conscious  of,  life  shrinks  from 
death.  The  homes  of  the  living,  not  the  sepulchres  of  the 
dead,  are  frequented  by  living  men.  And  wherever  there  is 
spiritual  life  within,  that  spiritual  life  will  court  the  com- 
panionship of  men,  not  because  they  are  rich,  or  great,  or 
powerful,  but  because  they  are  living  and  true  Christians. 
Brilliant  poetry  you  may  admire  ;  sparkling  conversation 
may  please  you ;  you  may  have  taste  to  appreciate  all  that 
the  most  elegant  accomplishments  can  achieve  :  these  things 
will  have  a  place  ;  but  in  the  selection  of  your  companion- 
ship, living  religion  will  have  the  place,  and  you  will  prefer 
the  dull  that  are  truly  godly,  to  the  brightest  wit  that  is  witli- 
out  God,  and  without  Christ,  and  therefore  without  hope  in 
the  world.  Whatever  relationships  you  enter  into,  whatever 
ties  you  form,  religion  will  not  be  the  only  thing,  but  it  will 


JOHN  XIV.  263 

be  tlie  dominant  and  the  governing  tiling.  Have  you,  then, 
this  life  that  courts  communion  with  life,  and  lightly  values 
all  in  compai'ison  of  this  the  main  thing  ? 

True  life  is  progi'essive  —  it  grows.  I  have  seen  a  wax 
flower,  seemingly  perfect  and  more  expressive  than  the 
original ;  but  go  back  to  that  wax  figure  of  a  flower  at  the 
end  of  twenty  years,  it  will  be  of  the  same  size  as  it  was  at 
first.  A  painted  flower  may  be  done  so  exquisitely,  that  at 
a  little  distance  you  Avould  almost  conclude  it  was  a  true 
flower,  but  it  remains  always  the  same  ;  whereas  the  rose- 
bud of  May  expands  itself  into  the  full  and  fragrant  blossom 
of  June.  Wherever  there  is  life,  there  is  growth  of  some 
sort ;  and  if  you  have  the  life  of  Christ  in  you,  if  you  are 
quickened  and  living  men,  there  will  be  growth,  not  always 
upwards  in  conformity  to  Glpd,  but  very  often,  and  not  less 
profitably,  downwards,  in  lowly  and  humble  acquaintance 
with  yourselves.  And  very  often  that  tree,  whose  boughs 
are  loaded  with  the  richest  fruit,  leans  its  branches  nearest 
to  the  ground ;  and  he  who  is  most  characterized  by  what- 
soever things  are  pure,  and  just,  and  lovely,  is  often  found, 
though  the  most  fruitful,  the  most  liumble  and  lowly  of  man- 
kind. But  growth  either  in  acquaintance  with  yourselves, 
or  growth  in  acquaintance  with  God,  is  an  inseparable  and 
essential  characteristic  of  that  true  and  spiritual  life,  of 
which  Christ  is  the  source  and  the  all-pervading  substance. 

If  you  have  true  spiritual  life,  you  have  within  you  a 
sensibility  that  will  be  conscious  of  any  thing  that  does 
violence  to  that  life.  Our  natural  life  is  so  constituted,  that 
a  pin-point  touching  the  little  finger,  instantly  awakens  a 
sleepless  sentinel  nerve  at  that  finger,  who  conveys  the  in- 
timation to  the  brain  ;  and  the  whole  body  fee.ls  and  recoils 
from  that  which  is  pain.  So  if  there  be  the  spiritual  life, 
what  poison  is  to  the  natural  economy  —  what  a  pin  or  a 
spear-point  is  to  the  physical  organization  —  sin  will  be  to  a 
true  Christian's  renewed  and  delicate  sensibility.     A  Chris- 


264  SCRIPTUUE    RKADINGS. 

tian,  therefore,  will  shrink  from  that  whicli  is  evil,  not  after 
he  has  first  calculated  mathematically  the  results  of  doing 
the  evil,  or  the  advantages  of  doing  it,  but  in  virtue  of  a 
sense  too  delicate  to  be  defined,  but  too  decided  in  its  verdicts 
ever  to  be  mistaken. 

If  you  have  this  spiritual  life,  you  will  feel  true  sympathy. 
Wherever  a  Christian  suffers,  there  a  Christian  will  be 
ready  to  sympathize  ;  wherever  a  Christian  is  happy,  there 
you  will  be  found  to  be  happy  too.  The  least  groan  of  the 
sorrowful,  the  least  pulse  of  the  joyous,  will  have  its  re- 
sounding echo  in  your  heart.  You  will  weep  with  them 
that  do  weep,  and  rejoice  Avith  them  that  do  rejoice.  And 
this  is  one  of  the  most  striking  and  constant  symptoms  of 
that  true  and  spiritual  life  which  Christ  is  in  the  heart,  and 
conscience,  and  soul  of  a  believer.  "Wherever  there  is  life 
of  any  sort,  it  has  a  wonderful  power  of  resisting,  overcom- 
ing, and  triumphing,  amid  outer  and  alien  elements  that  tend 
to  destroy  it.  Man,  for  instance,  has  a  natural  life  so  re- 
markable, that  he  can  live  amid  the  frozen  ledges  of  Green- 
land, or  under  the  burning  sun  of  the  equator.  He  can  live 
in  a  temperature  extremely  hot,  or  in  a  temperature  far  be- 
low zero.  The  power  of  life  to  adapt  itself  to  the  external 
circumstances  in  which  it  exists  is  more  wonderful  than  most 
are  aware  of.  And  wherever  there  is  this  true  spiritual  life 
beating  in  the  heart  —  the  life  of  Christ  —  there  will  be  a 
power  that  will  enable  you  to  resist  the  intrusion  of  elements 
that  are  opposed,  and  finally,  through  Him  that  loved  you, 
and  fills  that  life  from  the  heavenly  Source,  to  be  more  than 
conquerors. 

This  life  will  sliow  itself  in  action.  If  the  heart  be  liv- 
ing, it  will  send  the  lifeblood  through  all  the  ducts,  and 
veins,  and  channels  of  the  human  economy  —  channels  so 
frail  that  one  wonders  that  the  tide  of  life  can  traverse  them 
so  often  without  destroying  them.  And  if  there  be  spiritual 
life  in  you,  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  bid  you  breathe,    or 


JOHN  XIV.  265 

see,  or  hear,  or  walk.  You  cannot  help  breathing,  if  you 
be  alive  physically  ;  you  cannot  help  praying  if  you  be  alive 
spiritually.  You  will  walk,  if  you  have  life  ;  you  will  walk 
with  God,  if  you  have  the  true  life.  And  all  sermons 
preached  to  you,  that  bid  you  walk  before  they  have  told 
you  where  to  get  life,  that  bid  you  breathe  before  they  have 
told  you  where  there  is  to  be  the  first  pulse  of  a  heavenly 
nature,  or  that  bid  you  "  Do,  do,  do,"  before  they  have  in- 
structed you  how  you  are  to  live  the  life  everlasting,  fail  in 
the  great  end  and  object  of  a  sermon.  Give  people  life, 
and  leave  them  to  walk  —  they  will  take  care  to  do  so.  Let 
us  show  where  life  is,  and  where  you  may  have  it,  Avithout 
money  and  without  price,  by  Ilim  who  is  the  way,  the  truth, 
and  the  life,  and  who  gives  therefore  the  life  ;  and  you  will 
go  forth  walking  and  not  faint,  running  and  not  weary,  mount- 
ing as  with  eagles'  wings,  until  you  are  in  the  pi-esence  of 
God  and  of  the  Lamb  himself. 

Having  given  these  marks  and  tests  of  a  true  and  spiritual 
life,  let  me  notice  a  few  additional  characteristics  of  it  indi- 
cated in  diffei-ent  parts  of  the  sacred  volume.  The  apostle 
says  that  they  that  have  this  life  are,  in  every  instance  and 
everywhere,  "  alive  unto  God."  "  Alive  unto  God  "  is  the 
expression  employed  by  the  apostle  to  show  the  action  and 
the  manifestation  of  that  life  in  the  believer's  heart,  of  which 
Christ  is  the  fountain  and  the  very  substance.  This  expres- 
sion, "  alive  unto  God,"  as  the  sign  and  evidence  of  the  inner 
life,  will  mean,  in  the  first  place,  alive  to  the  presence  of 
God.  If,  therefore,  you  have  received  this  life  from  on  high 
that  connects  you  wnth  the  Fountain  that  is  there,  wherever 
you  go  you  will  have  more  or  less  continuous,  or  at  least 
more  or  less  interrupted,  a  sense  of  the  all-enveloping  and 
encompassing  presence  of  your  Father  who  is  in  lieaven. 
Your  language  vvill  be,  "  If  thy  presence  go  not  with  us, 
carry  us  not  up  hence."  The  expression  of  your  inmost 
joy,  not  your  terror  and  alarm,  will  be,  "  Thou  God  seest 

23 


266  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

me."  And  surely  one,  for  one  moment  reflecting,  cannot 
conceive  how  it  is  possible  for  a  man  to  enjoy  a  moment's 
pejace,  who  does  not  feel  that  he  is  under  the  all-protecting 
wing  of  One  that  sleepeth  not  nor  slumbereth.  If  my  life 
be  at  the  disposal  of  a  thousand  accidents,  or  at  the  mercy 
of  ten  thousand  chemical  laws  that  wait  for  the  soul  to  leave 
the  body,  in  order  to  rush  upon  it,  and  disintegrate  it,  and 
destroy  it;  if  the  turning  of  a  corner  that  ends  in  the  cessa- 
tion of  a  life  be  an  accident ;  then  I  must  go  forth  into  the 
world  under  a  continuous  sense  of  terror.  I  could  not  gaze 
upon  the  great  deep  without  being  overwhelmed  Avitli  awe  ; 
I  could  not  look  upon  grand  mountain  scenery  without  fear- 
ing lest  in  some  way  I  might  be  injured.  I  should  feel  my- 
self, in  the  presence  of  the  vast  and  magnificent  scenes  of 
nature,  like  a  drop  of  water  upon  the  stream,  like  a  leaf 
upon  the  wind ;  and  I  should  feel  indeed  forlorn  and  for- 
saken, if  the  world  be  governed  by  what  the  world  itself 
calls  random  accidents.  But  when  I  know  that  in  God  I 
live,  and  every  step  I  take  I  move,  and  every  pulse  of  my 
heart  is  a  rebound  to  the  touch  of  his  finger ;  when  I  feel 
that  in  the  height,  or  in  the  depth,  if  I  go  into  heaven,  or 
descend  into  hell,  or  take  the  wings  of  the  morning  and 
escape  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea,  even  there  his 
hand  shall  find  me,  and  his  right  hand  shall  lead  me ;  if  I 
feel  that  I  am  immortal  till  I  have  finished  the  work  that  the 
Father  hath  given  me  to  do ;  then  I  can  fling  fears  to  the 
winds ;  I  can  lay  aside  all  deep  and  perplexing  anxieties ; 
I  can  go  fortli  to  the  sphere  of  duty,  whether  it  be  in  the 
van  of  an  advancing  army,  or  upon  the  quarter-deck  of  a 
powerful  fleet  —  wherever  duty  calls  me  there  I  go,  wher- 
ever my  mission  impels  me  there  I  appear,  perfectly  con- 
scious that  neither  disease  nor  death,  nor  bullet  nor  ball,  nor 
shot  nor  shell,  can  scathe  me  until  each  and  all  get  permission 
or  commission  from  Ilim  who  watches  over  me  by  day,  and 
under  whose  wings  I  lie  down  by  night.     Nay  more,  I  won- 


JO  UN  XIV.  207 

der  that  those  persons  who  liave  not  a  sense  of  livinj^  in 
God,  who  are  not  alive  to  his  presence,  can  lie  down  npou 
their  beds  and  sleep,  not  because  robbers  or  hre  may  come, 
but  from  a  thought  that  has  very  often  struck  me  as  a  very 
solemn  one  ;  namely,  as  long  as  I  am  walking  in  the  street, 
or  speaking,  or  studying,  or  whatever  my  work  may  be,  I 
feel  as  if  I  had  a  grasp  of  life,  as  if  I  could  take  care  of  it ; 
I  feel  alive  to  a  sense  of  its  preservation ;  and  I  seem  as  if 
I  had  hold  of  it.  But  Avlien  I  lie  down  upon  my  bed,  and 
fall  asleep,  I  feel  as  if  I  had  let  life  go,  as  if  I  had  let  the 
soul  go,  as  if  my  strong  grasp  were  relaxed  ;  and  unless  there 
be  some  oAcrsliadowing  presence  that  can  watch  over  me 
like  an  unwearied  sentinel,  when  all  my  wearied  senses  have 
fallen  asleep  and  forsaken  their  accustomed  posts,  I  should 
feel  that  I  could  not  lie  down  and  sleep  with  safety.  But 
when  I  know  that  that  sentinel  is  there,  then  I  can  see  a 
meaning  —  not  a  meaning  only,  but  a  magnificence —  in  the 
simple  language  of  the  sweet  singer  of  Israel,  when  he  says, 
"  I  will  therefore  lay  me  down,  and  take  quiet  sleep  ;  and  I 
will  awake  ;  for  the  Lord  sustaineth  me."  "What  beautiful 
philosophy  is  there  in  God's  inspired  word  ! 

If  you  be  alive  to  this  sense;  of  God,  you  will  not  only 
be  alive  to  his  presence,  but  to  his  favor ;  that  is  to  say,  you 
will  prefer  the  approbation  of  God  to  the  plaudits,  and  the 
hosannas,  and  the  cheers  of  the  mightiest  multitude.  God's 
favor  or  approbation  will  be  your  chief  thing  ;  man's  appro- 
val you  will  always  feel  as  the  reflection  of  it.  God's'  ver- 
dict in  your  favor  will  be  the  main  thing ;  man's  plaudit 
upon  earth  you  will  regard  only  as  an  echo  ;  musical  only 
when  it  reflects  the  original.  And,  therefore,  very  truly 
does  the  Psalmist  say,  "  There  be  many  tliat  say,  Who 
will  show  us  any  good  ?  "  But,  says  he,  '•  Lord,  lift  thou 
upon  me  the  light  of  thy  countenance  ^and  then  shall  I 
have  more  good  than  the  world  with  its  corn"  —  that  is, 
with  its    necessary    food  — "  and    its    oil  "  —  that    is    with 


268  scKii'TURic  kkadin<:js. 

its  luxury  —  "  ami  its  wine  "  —  that  is,  its  enjoyment. 
"  Evermore  lift  thou  upon  me  the  light  of  thy  counte- 
nance." 

And  if  you  have  this  spiritual  life,  you  will  be  alive  also 
to  the  glory  of  God.  Wluit  is  meant  by  that?  Many 
Christians  think  that  there  is  something  transcendental  in 
asking  tliem,  in  all  things,  in  all  places,  on  all  occasions,  to 
seek  to  glorify  God.  They  think  it  is  something  very  beau- 
tiful for  a  monk's  cell,  or  for  the  recluse,  but  it  is  quite  im- 
practicable for  every-day  life.  If  it  were  so,  an  insiiired 
apostle  would  never  have  written,  "  Whatsoever  ye  do, 
whether  ye  eat  or  drink,  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God."  And 
surely  the  wise  men  that  wrote  the  "  Sliorter  Catechism," 
though  human  and  uninspired,  never  would  have  said  that 
"  Man's  chief  end  is  "  —  not  to  get  rich,  as  it  would  be  ti"ans- 
lated  in  some  parts  of  the  City,  nor  to  get  renown,  as  it  would 
be  in  some  parts  of  the  West-end ;  but,  "  man's  chief  end  is 
to  glorify  God ;  and,"  as  the  issue  of  that,  evolving  in  the 
pursuit  of  it,  "  to  enjoy  him  for  ever." 

If  we  have  this  life  within  us,  we  shall  seek  to  glorify 
God.  But  you  ask,  What  is  meant  by  glorifying  God  ? 
The  answer  is  a  simple  one ;  just  making  God  known. 
When  we  glorify  a  man,  we  add  to  that  man  something  to 
make  him  great ;  but  when  we  glorify  God,  v.ho  is  incapa- 
ble of  addition,  we  simply  make  known  what  God  truly  is. 
And  that  person  whose  life,  whose  character  reflects  most 
of  tlie  likeness  of  God  upon  mankind,  gives  the  greatest 
glory  to  God.  We  glorify  God,  not  by  making  fine  speeches, 
but  by  living  beautiful  lives  ;  not  by  talking  theology,  but 
by  doing  divinely.  It  is  the  life  that  is  the  truest  mirror  ; 
and  when  it  is  unstained  or  brightened  by  the  toucli  of  God, 
it  will  reflect  the  ray  that  comes  from  him  with  infallible 
faithfulness  and  brightness.  If  we  are  thus  alive  unto  God, 
and  have  Christ's  life  in  us,  then  we  shall  feel  an  interest, 
and  take   an  interest,  in    the    spread    and  progress   of  his 


JOHN  XIV.  269 

cause.  TiJinsTs  from  the  P^ast  will  be  intcrestlni;,  and  ou"'lit 
to  be  interesting ;  but  tidings  iVom  fields  of  missionary  labor 
ought,  at  least,  not  to  be  less  so.  We  may  take  an  interest 
in  the  downfall  of  dynasties,  in  the  upsetting  or  the  uprais- 
ing of  imperial  thrones  ;  but  we  ought  to  feel  a  profounder 
and  a  more  thrilling  interest  ift  the  spread  of  that  truth  that 
makes  men  free,  and  in  the  extension  of  that  blessed  Gos- 
pel which  makes  happy  here  and  iiereafter.  The  miser 
looks  upon  the  earth  for  a  supply  of  gold  ;  the  learned  man 
too  often  looks  upon  it  as  a  })lalform  for  achieving  reputa- 
tion ;  the  ambitious  man  looks  upon  it  as  the  lowest  step  of 
a  ladder  by  which  he  may  mount  to  greatness ;  but  the 
Christian  looks  upon  the  earth  as  the  sphere  in  which  he  is 
to  serve  God,  and  on  which  he  believes,  when  it  is  restored 
and  reinstated  in  its  ancient  orbit,  and  consecrated  by  the 
descending  glory  of  God,  he  will  appear  again  holy  and 
happy :  and  this  earth  is  not  the  least  interesting  of  the 
sisterhood  of  stars,  all  of  wduch  have  kept  their  first  estate, 
being  the  only  prodigal  sister  in  the  holy  and  happy  sister- 
hood. 

This  life,  in  the  next  place,  as  Christ's  life  in  it,  will  be, 
if  I  have  not  already  anticipated  this  characteristic,  a  holy 
life.  TVe  may  judge  of  the  greatness  of  the  master  of  a 
house  by  those  that  come  out  and  go  in.  We  may  judge  of 
the  consecration  of  the  temple  not  made  with  hands,  that  is, 
the  body,  by  the  thoughts  that  come  forth,  by  the  words 
upon  the  lips,  by  the  deeds  upon  the  life.  And  holy  thoughts 
and  holy  deeds  arc  to  a  Christian  not  the  offspring  of  ar- 
rangement, but  the  legitimate  growth  of  an  inner,  holy, 
and  spiritual  nature. 

This  life  will  always  be  a  happy  life.  "  The  fruit  of  the 
Spirit  is  joy."  "  In  the  world  ye  shall  have  tribulation  ; 
but,"  says  he  who  is  our  life,  "  in  me  ye  shall  have  peace. 
And  I  speak  these  things  unto  you  that  my  joy  may  remain 
in  you,  and  that  your  joy  may  be  full."  It  would  be  a 
23* 


270  scuiPTiur.  readings. 

strange  thing  if  God  made,  his  enemies  happy,  and  left  his 
own  sons  and  daugliters  miserable.  It  would  be  very  odd 
if  happiness  was  the  monopoly  of  the  depraved,  and  strange 
and  alien  to  the  true  people  of  God.  But  it  is  not  so  : 
"  All  things  are  yours ;  Paul,  or  Apollos,  or  Cephas,  or 
life,  or  death,  or  things  preseat  or  things  to  come  ;  all  are 
yours,  for  ye  are  Christ's,  and  Christ  is  God's."  "  And  all 
tilings,"  by  a  law  struck  upon  them,  "  work  together  for 
good  to  them  that  love  God,  and  are  the  called  according  to 
his  purpose." 

This  life,  in  the  last  jdace,  is  an  immortal  life.  Our  mor- 
tal life  descends  to  the  grave,  and  the  place  that  knows  us 
now  will  soon  know  us  no  more  for  ever.  But  the  soul, 
quickened  by  Christ  its  life,  will  emerge  from  the  shattei-ed 
remains  of  mortality,  and  ascend  with  unfaltering  pinion 
to  those  joys  that  are  at  God's  right  hand,  to  those  pleasures 
that  are  tor  evermore.  At  the  death  of  a  Christian  there  is 
no  suspension  or  cessation  of  conscious  life,  love,  and  truth. 
When  a  Christian  dies,  it  is  but  the  soul,  that  is,  the  life, 
disentangling  itself  from  the  crumbling  remains  of  the  tab- 
ernacle in  which  it  has  sojourned  for  a  season,  that  it  may 
breathe  a  better  air,  enjoy  a  higher  life,  so  that  the  day  of 
a  Christian's  death  is  really  the  first  and  the  brightest  day 
of  a  Christian's  better  and  nobler  life.  A  Christian  knows 
the  way  to  the  grave,  and  he  is  not  afraid  of  it,  for  Christ 
has  consecrated  it  by  his  presence,  and  the  footprints  of 
Lira  that  I)ore  the  cross  are  traceable  upon  every  inch  of  it. 
A  Christian,  therefore,  goes  down  to  the  grave,  knowing 
that  its  darkest  gloom  is  not  the  twilight  that  indicates  the 
approaching  night,  but  that  precedes  the  everlasting  and  the 
joyous  morn. 

Let  me  ask,  in  conclusion,  have  you  this  life  ?  The  life 
of  the  intellect  may  die,  the  life  of  the  body  must  die  ;  but 
this  life  endures  ibr  ever.  A  day  comes  when  the  crowns 
of  monarchs  and  the  chains  of  prisoners,  the  robes  of  princes 


JOHN    XIV.  271 

and  the  rags  of  beggars,  the  pahiis  of  great  captains  and  the 
plans  of  accomplished  diplomatists,  shall  all  be  as  dust  and 
vanity,  and  lighter  than  vanity.  But  a  day  will  never  come 
when  they  that  are  quickened  by  tliis  life,  that  are  Chris- 
tians not  in  name,  in  form,  or  by  subscription  to  a  creed, 
Imt  by  life  infused  into  the  heart,  shall  cease  to  live. 
Blessed  are  they  whose  life  Christ  is ;  yea,  happy  are  the 
people  that  are  in  such  a  case ! 

How  complete  is  the  character  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ !  He  is  as  fitted  to  the  wants  as  he  is  able  to 
remove  the  fears,  the  diffidence,  and  despair  of  mankind. 
He  is  the  holy  and  happy  Way  in  which,  and  by  which,  men 
may  arrive  at  everlasting  joy.  Pie  is  the  Truth  that  reveals 
it,  and  shines  along  it  from  heaven  to  earth,  and  thus  enables 
the  travellers  that  ha^e  their  face  toward  Zion  to  advance 
without  fear  of  falling,  or  delay  on  their  journey. 

He  is  the  Life.  He  gives  a  new  life  to  every  traveller, 
and  daily  supplies  of  vigor  to  that  life.  In  the  words  of  St. 
Paul,  "  Ye  are  complete  in  Christ."  "  Having  therefore, 
brethren,  boldness  to  enter  into  the  holiest  by  the  blood  of 
Jesus,  by  a  new  and  living  way,  which  he  hath  consecrated 
for  us,  through  the  veil,  that  is  to  say,  his  flesh  ;  and  having 
an  High-Priest  over  the  house  of  God  ;  let  us  draw  near 
with  a  true  heart  in  full  assurance  of  faith,  having  our  hearts 
sprinkled  from  an  evil  conscience,  and  our  bodies  washed 
with  pure  water."  There  is  not  a  saint  before  the  throne  of 
God  or  in  the  presence  of  the  Lamb,  who  came  to  heaven 
by  any  other  route.  It  is  expressly  asserted  by  our  Lord, 
"  No  man  comelh  unto  the  Father  but  by  me."  It  matters 
not  how  excellent  and  exemplary  he  may  be  who  makes  the 
experiment  of  a  new  method  of  access  to  heaven,  or  how 
plausible  the  road  he  strikes  out  may  appear  to  us,  the  simple 
declaration  of  the  Son  of  God  at  once  and  for  ever  puts  an 
end  to  all  prospect,  as  it  ought  to  exhaust  all  hope,  of  success. 

To  those  who    are  beating  homeward  this    holy  way,  I 


272  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

would  address  words  of  comfort,  encouragement,  and  of  sure 
success.  The  Author  is  the  Finisher  of  our  course.  He 
that  placed  us  on  the  way  will  keep  us  in  it.  He  has  all 
power,  and  sympathy,  and  love.  In  spite  of  our  unwor- 
thiness,  he  chose  us ;  in  spite  of  our  unworthiness,  he  will 
keep  us. 

To  those  who  have  not  yet  loft  the  broad  way,  and  entered 
on  the  strait  and  narrow  way  of  life,  I  would  address  solemn 
warning,  earnest  remonstrance,  urgent  appeals.  You  ai*e  in 
peril.  Your  precious  soul  is  far  from  God.  Your  peace  is 
deception  —  your  safety  delusion.  Come  unto  Christ,  and 
he  will  give  you  life. 


Note.  —  [Vcr.  3.]  The  troLfidaaL  towov  is  that  of  which  we  sing, 
"  When  thou  hast  overcome  the  sharpness  of  death  :  Thou  didst  open 
the  kingdom  of  lieavcn  to  all  believers."  (See  note  on  Luke  xxii.  43.) 
And  thus  it  is  towov,  not  tuc  /lovug,  —  the  place,  as  a  whole,  not  each 
man's  place  in  it. 

[Ver.  3.]  In  order  to  understand  this,  we  must  bear  in  mind  what 
Stier  calls  the  "  perspective  "  of  prophecy.  The  coming  again  of  the 
Lord  is  not  one  single  act,  as  his  resurrection,  or  the  descent  of  the 
Spirit,  or  his  second  personal  advent,  or  the  final  coming  to  judgment ; 
but  the  great  complex  of  all  these,  the  result  of  which  shall  be  his  tak- 
ing his  people  to  himself,  to  be  where  he  is.  This  epxofiai  is  begun 
(verse  18)  in  his  resun-ection ;  carried  on  (verse  23)  in  the  spiritual 
life,  (see  also  chap.  xvi.  22,)  and  making  them  ready  for  the  place  pre- 
pared ;  further  advanced,  when  each  by  death  is  fetched  away  to  bo  ■ 
with  him  (Phil.  i.  23) ;  fully  completed  at  his  coming  in  glory,  when 
they  shall  for  ever  be  with  him  (I  Thess.  iv.  17)  in  the  perfected  resur- 
rection state.  —  Alford. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

JESUS  PREACUES  HIMSELF.  — SIMPLICITY  OF  TEACHING.  —  THE  VINE 

AND     ITS     BKANCHES. CHRIST    AND     HIS    I'EOPLE. SUPPORT. 

FRUITFULNESS. UNITY. THE  INNER  CHRIST. REAL  RELIGION. 

FRUIT.  —  PRAYER. JOY.  —  CHRISTIANS    CHRIST's    FRIENDS. 

MARKS  OF.  THE  WORLD.  THE  SPIRIt'S  WORK. 

Our  Lord  repeats  the  words  of  verse  first  in  a  v>  ay  more 
explanatory  of  the  original  thought  he  designed  to  inculcate 
in  the  fifth  verse ;  "  I  am  the  true  vine,  ye  are  the  branches  ; 
he  that  abideth  in  me,  and  I  in  liira,  the  same  bringeth  forth 
much  fruit :  for  without  me  ye  can  do  nothing." 

Our  Lord  preaches  himself  as  the  great  support  and  life 
of  all  true,  justified,  and  regenerate  believers.  The  Chris- 
tian minister  preaches  not  himself,  but  Christ  the  way,  and 
himself  your  servant  for  Christ's  sake.  But  Jesus  could 
stand  in  the  midst  of  Jerusalem,  and  could  preach  himself 
the  Lord  and  the  Giver  of  life,  so  that  the  preacher  and  the 
subject  of  the  sermon  should  be  one  ;  all  the  glory  coming 
to  Him  who  preached,  because  of  the  subject  of  what  he 
preached;  and  all  the  good  that  he  laid  down  accessible  to 
all  that  had  ears  to  hear,  or  hearts  opened  to  receive  it. 
And  when  Jesus  preached,  we  cannot  but  notice  how  simply 
he  preached.  We  are  j)rotie  to  tliink  that  we  must  illustrate 
magnificent  thoughts  by  having  recourse  to  abstruse,  or  rec- 
ondite, or  lofty  imagery  ;  but  when  Jesus  desired  to  illustrate 
the  most  precious  truths,  he  seized  the  nearest  and  the  sim- 
plest images  and  made  these  the  vehicles  of  the  great  truths 
he  designed  to  teach.  Hence  there  is  a  simplicity  in  all  that 
Jesus  said  that  enables  babes  to  understand,  and  yet  a  depth 

(273) 


274  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

beneath  the  simple  imagery  that  the  profoundest  intellects 
cannot  exhaust.  He  was  passing  along  the  streets ;  he  saw 
the  vine  climbing  upon  the  wall,  or  growing  on  the  trellis- 
work,  or  standing  alone  ;  and  looking  at  it  the  thought  was 
instantly  suggested  by  it,  "  I  am  the  true  vine."  And  every 
time  that  Jesus  used  a  real  thing  in  nature  to  be  the  mirror 
of  a  divine  thing  in  grace,  he  gave  an  earnest  and  a  forestal- 
ment  of  that  ultimate  and  approaching  day  when  all  nature 
shall  be  restored,  and  become  again  the  bright  mirror  of 
everlasting  truths ;  the  perfect  and  the  pure  reflection  of  the 
image  of  Him  that  made  her,  and  of  the  greater  glory  of 
Him  that  redeemed  her  by  his  pi*ecious  blood. 

The  symbol  Jesus  here  selects  is  a  very  plain  and  very 
unassuming  one.  He  did  not  select  the  lofty  cedar  that 
towered  to  the  skies,  though  he  might  have  done  so  ;  nor  the 
strong  oak  that  lifts  its  branches  in  the  sunshine,  and  main- 
tains their  integrity  in  the  storm ;  nor  did  he  use  the  grace- 
ful palm-tree,  to  set  forth  himself;  but  he  took  the  lowly  and 
the  humble  vine ;  the  vine  not  of  Italy  perhaps,  spreading 
gracefully  along  the  trellis-work,  but  like  that  on  the  banks 
of  the  Rhine,  meek  and  lowly,  but  productive  in  Palestine 
of  the  choicest  and  the  most  fragrant  fruit.  And  he  said, 
That  vine  with  its  branches  sets  forth  and  preaches  to  you 
my  relationship  to  you,  and  your  relationship  to  me.  When 
the  disciples  heard  him  say  so,  it  never  entered  into  their 
heads  that  he  was  transmuted  into  a  vine  as  he  said,  "  I  am 
the  vine ;  "  any  more  than  John  understood,  when  he  said, 
"  The  seven  candlesticks  are  seven  churches,"  that  there  was 
any  transmutation  there.  It  is  part  and  parcel  of  imagery 
constantly  employed  in  Scripture,  where  a  thing  is  said  to  be 
what  that  thing  is  represented  by  ;  and  so  we  must  interpret 
such  a  passage  as  this,  "  This  is  my  body,"  in  the  same  way, 
and  in  the  same  spirit,  and  for  the  same  reason,  in  which  we 
interpret  this  passage,  "  I  am  the  true  vine  ;  "  that  is,  "  I  am 
represented  by  it  —  it  is  the  best  picture  or  image  of  what  I 


JOHN  XV.  275 

am."  And  so,  "This  is  my  body"  —  "This  bread  repre- 
senting it  is  the  best  and  nearest  likeness  of  what  I  have  be- 
come by  being  manifested  in  the  flesh,  and  becoming  bone  of 
your  bone  and  flesh  of  your  flesh." 

After  representing  himself  as  the  vine,  and  selecting  that 
tree  to  be  the  model  of  what  he  was,  he  represented  all  be- 
lievers in  holy  relationship  to  him  as  branches  growing  out 
from  this  vine,  sustained  and  nourished  and  fed  by  it ;  and 
in  that  beautiful  image  he  conveys  to  us  some  of  the  most 
precious  and  vital  truths  of  the  Gospel  of  our  salvation. 
The  branch  is  united  to  the  vine  not  by  mechanical  com- 
pression, not  by  artificial  fastening  ;  it  grows  from  it,  is  part 
and  parcel  of  it,  is  of  the  same  essential  substance  of  which 
the  parent  stem  is.  Now  believers  are  represented  as  in 
Christ,  united  to  him ;  the  life  that  they  live,  the  life  of  the 
Son  of  God ;  having  real  union  to  him.  A  baptized  man  has  a 
mechanical  union,  or,  if  you  like,  an  ecclesiastical  one  ;  but  the 
regenerated  man  has  a  living,  and  a  real,  and  a  vital  union. 
The  union  of  the  baptized  man  to  Christ  is  temporary,  and 
may  be,  and  if  nothing  more  it  must  be,  dissolved.  But  the 
union  of  the  living  branch  to  Christ  the  living  vine  is  so 
real,  that  no  storm  can  carry  it  away,  no  hostile  knife  can 
cut  it  off,  no  frost  can  nip  it ;  it  is  a  living  branch,  it  has 
living  union,  and  nothing  shall  be  able  to  separate  the  least 
or  the  loftiest  bough  from  the  love  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus. 
Another  idea  set  before  us  by  this  beautiful  imagery  is,  that 
as  the  branch  derives  all  its  nutriment  from  the  parent  stem, 
so  the  believer  derives  all  his  strength  —  that  is,  his  spiritual 
strength,  his  spiritual  vitality  —  froni  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
In  winter  the  branches  seem  dead ;  the  sap  has  retreated 
for  shelter  to  the  roots,  and  under  the  warm  earth  it  is  main- 
tained in  its  life  till  the  first  sunbeams  and  showers  of  spring 
come ;  then  it  rises  to  the  stem,  and  by  innumerable  pores, 
and  ducts,  and  channels,  it  penetrates  every  branch,  shows 
itself  first  in  the  green  leaf,  then  bursts  into  the  fragrant 


276  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

blossom,  which  ultnnately  ripens  into  the  fresli  and  most 
useful  fruit.  So  the  believer  derives  from  Christ  that 
nourishment,  in  the  strength  of  which  he  can  crucify  the  sin 
that  is  dearest ;  in  the  strength  of  which  he  can  gain  vic- 
tory, where  the  natural  man  would  sustain  defeat ;  by  the 
power  and  presence  of  which  he  finds  in  every  circumstance, 
and  at  all  times,  grace  sufficient  for  him,  strengtli  made  pei'- 
fect  in  weakness ;  so  that  he  brings  forth  not  only  fruits  that 
the  world  has,  but  other  fruits,  and  all  fruits  in  richer  fra- 
grance, luxuriance,  and  perfection,  because  coming  from 
Him  who  is  the  source  and  fountain  of  all  life,  and  fertility, 
and  fruit. 

The  next  idea  is  that  of  continual  support.  The  branches 
are  sustained  by  the  vine ;  it  is  not  the  branches  that  sustain 
the  vine,  but  the  vine  that  sustains  the  branches.  So  if  we 
are  branches  of  this  living  and  true  vine,  we  are  supported 
by  him,  we  do  not  support  him.  It  is  not  the  Church  of 
Christ  that  supports  Christ,  but  Christ  that  supports  the 
Church  —  the  true  Church,  composed  of  the  branches  of 
the  true  and  living  Vine. 

We  have  next,  the  idea  of  fruitfulness.  Our  Lord  fre- 
quently inculcates  this.  "  He  that  abideth  in  me  bringeth 
forth  much  fruit."  Now  the  branch  has  no  merit  in  the 
fruit  it  bears.  Its  fruit  is  the  result  of  the  sap  that  comes 
from  the  stem  ;  when  there,  it  quickens  it,  gives  it  verdure, 
fertility,  and  power  to  produce  fruit ;  so  that  all  the  credit  of 
the  fruit  is  due  to  the  stem,  and  none  is  due  to  the  branch  ; 
it  is  merely  the  organ  or  the  instrument  of  a  power  derived 
and  received  from  a  source  external  to  and  before  itself. 
So  a  Christian,  when  he  brings  forth  all  the  fruits  of  the 
Spirit,  does  so  in  virtue  of  a  strength  and  a  life  that  are  not 
his  own ;  the  source  of  all  is  from  above ;  the  glory  of  all 
must  be  given  to  Him  who  is  the  author  of  all.  And  thus, 
as  the  branches  that  are  most  laden  with  fruit  bow  down  to 
the  ground,  so  the  Christian  who  is  covered  with  the  most 


JOHN  XV.  277 

fragrant  fruits  of  Christianity,  will  be  the  humblest  and  low- 
liest in  the  sight  of  God.  He  will  recollect  his  sins  are  his 
own,  therefore  he  must  be  ashamed  of  them  ;  his  virtues  are 
not  his  own,  therefore  he  may  not  glory  in  them.  For  his  sins 
he  must  seek  forgiveness  from  Him  Avho  alone  can  forgive 
them  ;  for  his  virtues  he  must  give  glory  to  Him  who  alone 
is  the  author  of  them;  and  thus  humility  will  be  the  atmos- 
phere and  feeling  of  the  best,  the  most  devoted  and  fruitful 
Christian  in  the  church  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

In  the  next  place,  these  branches,  thus  bringing  forth 
fruit,  and  belonging  to  the  vine,  indicate  that  all  true  be- 
lievers are  essentially  connected  together,  and  ought  to  have 
communion  and  fellowship  one  with  the  other.  They  may 
belong  in  this  world  to  different  classes,  sections,  parts  in 
the  great  ecclesiastical  communion ;  but  all  true  Christians, 
"whatever  be  the  garb  they  wear,  whatever  be  the  sect  they 
belong  to,  whatever  be  the  place  of  the  world  in  which  they 
worship  ;  if  they  be  quickened  by  the  same  Spirit,  pervaded 
by  the  same  vital  sap ;  if  they  be  branches  of  the  true  vine, 
are  all  brethren  of  each  other,  may  have  fellowship  and 
communion  one  with  another,  arid  belong  to  the  same  catholic 
or  universal  Church. 

Here  we  see  what  is  the  true  source  and  centre  of  real 
unity  in  the  Church  of  Chrisi.  The  unity  of  the  Church  of 
Christ  is  not  uniformity  in  things  that  are  subordinate  ;  nor 
speaking  the  same  language,  using  the  same  ceremony,  living 
under  the  same  ecclesiastical  polity.  These  things  produce 
uniformity :  but  unity,  Christian  unity,  consists  of  all  being 
knit  to  and  sustained  by  the  same  common  parent  stem,  the 
true  vine,  the  Lord  .Jesus  Christ,  the  source  of  our  unity. 
The  source  of  our  strengtli,  is  the  centre  of  our  unity.  In 
the  Romish  Church,  it  is  dead  men  clinging  to  a  dead  tree  ; 
in  the  Church  of  Christ,  it  is  living  branches  growing  out 
of  a  living  tree.  And  our  unity  is  not  that  we  all  belong  to 
the  same  national,  provhicial,  or  congregational  body  ;  but 

24 


278  SCRIPTUUE    READINGS. 

that  we  all,  whatever  be  the  ecclesiastical  relationship  we 
may  belong  to,  are  sustained  by  and  derive  nutriment  irom 
the  same  true  and  glorious  vine,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  If 
we  belong  to  Christ,  we  belong  to  the  true  Church.  Our 
first  question  should  not  be.  What  church  shall  I  belong  to  ? 
but.  Do  I  belong  to  Christ  ?  If  I  am  a  branch  of  the 
true  vine,  I  am  sure  I  belong  to  the  true  Church  ;  if  I 
am  not,  it  matters  little  by  Avhat  ecclesiastical  name  I  am 
known  in  the  vocabulary  of  this  world,  I  have  no  lot  or 
part  in  that  which  is  holiness  on  earth  and  happiness  for  ever 
and  for  ever. 

How  important  is  it  that  we  should  seek  to  be  fruitful ! 
"Herein  is  my  Father  glorified,  that  ye  bear  much  fruit." 
Now  here  is  the  only  test  and  criterion  before  the  world, 
that  we  are  branches  of  the  true  vine.  Our  profession  is 
no  proof;  our  baptism  and  the  ecclesiastical  body  we  belong 
to  is  none ;  our  zeal  for  a  crotchet,  or  our  contention  for  a 
dogma,  is  none.  The  only  real  unequivocal  proof  that 
we  are  true  Christians,  is,  that  we  bear  the  fruit,  the  fra- 
grant fruit  of  which  the  Spirit  is  the  inspirer,  and  bearing  by 
being  branches  in  Clu-ist,  deriving  our  support  and  our 
nutriment  from  him.  If  we  thus,  then,  by  our  works,  that 
is  by  our  fruits,  show  that  we  are  branches  of  the  true 
vine,  we  have  God's  own  badge.  AVe  can  appeal  to  better 
credentials  than  conjecture ;  we  are  sure  we  are  his,  by  the 
Spirit  he  has  given  us,  and  the  fruits  he  enables  us  to  bring 
forth. 

And  we  see  too,  from  this  idea,  God's  great  design  in  all 
the  chastisements  Avith  which  he  visits  his  own.  "  Every 
branch,"  he  says,  "  that  beareth  fruit,  he  purgeth  it,  that  it 
may  bring  forth  more  fruit"— ^  that  is,  tends  it,  takes  care 
of  it.  The  meaning  is  probably,  He  prunes  the  vine,  stirs 
soil  at  its  roots,  and  sends  the  descending  shower  that  ruffles 
its  leaves,  but  yet  cleanses  and  purifies  its  stem,  in  order  that 
it  may  bring  forth  more  fruit.     God's  great  design  in  all  his 


•TOHx  XV.  279 

providential  dealings  Avitli  liis  own  is,  that  they  may  bring 
forth  more  t'riiit,  "  that  thereby  my  Father  may  be  glorified, 
and  that  ye  may  be  seen  to  be  my  disciples." 

Are  we  then  branches  of  that  vine  ?  How  do  wc  be- 
come so?  The  Spirit  makes  us  so;  faith  is  the  instrument 
by  which  we  become  so.  Believe  in  Christ  Jesus,  rest  upon 
him  for  the  pardon  of  every  sin,  look  to  him  simply  as  he 
is  set  forth  in  the  Gospel,  seek  from  him  his  Holy  Spirit : 
he  gives  the  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him  ;  and  that  Spirit 
given  to  you  will  make  you  so  truly,  so  really,  a  branch  of 
this  living  vine,  that  in  the  strength  of  Ilim  who  is  your 
strength^  you  will  bear  much  fruit,  and  give  glory  to  your 
Father  who  is  in  heaven. 

I  do  not  know  a  more  expressive  or  suggestive  portrait 
of  the  true  Church  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  than  that  which 
our  blessed  Lord  presents  in  the  opening  part  of  this  chapter. 
He  likens  himself  to  the  vine,  full  of  life  and  vigor  ;  he 
likens  all  true  Christians  scattered  throughout  the  world,  by 
whatever  name  they  may  be  distinguished  or  branded  among 
mankind,  as  the  living  branches  united  to  that  vine.  And 
he  tells  them  that  the  fruit  tliey  bear  is  the  evidence  of  their 
living  union  with  him,  and  gives  by  its  fragrance  and  its 
plentifulness  glory  to  Him  who  grafted  them  on  the  vine  ; 
and  he  invites  to  accept  the  same  blessed  relationship,  them 
that  are  by  nature  aliens,  and  strangers,  and  foreigners, 
without  God,  without  Christ,  without  hope  in  the  world. 
It  is ^asy  to  see.  therefore  what  is  true  Christianity.  It  is 
not  incorporation  with  a  church,  however  excellent ;  it  is 
not  a  name,  however  musical ;  it  is  not  a  profession,  how- 
ever loud  ;  it  is  not  subscription  to  a  creed  ;  but  it  is  living, 
vital,  the  most  close,  the  most  intimate  union  and  conmiunion 
with  Christ,  the  vine,  the  root,  the  life,  the  way,  the  truth. 
Are  we  united  to  him  ?  The  best  evidence  that  we  are,  is 
the  fruit  we  bear;  and  if  we  be  not  united  to  him,  our  priv- 
ihiges  will  only  aggravate  our  ruin,  our  light  will  only  guide 


280  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

our  steps  to  misery.  Were  men  to  think  less  of  the  church 
they  belong  to,  and  more  whether  they  are  branches  of  the 
living  Vine",  the  whole  church  would  be  happier,  Christ's 
cause  would  spread  faster,  and  the  people  would  be  made 
ready  for  the  coming  of  their  Lord.  Our  Lord  then  tells 
us  that  "  every  branch  that  beareth  not  fruit  he  taketh 
away."  I  do  not  enter  upon  discussions  whether  a  tiHie 
Christian  can  fall.  Here  is  the  simple  fact ;  that  if  you 
are  not  bearing  fruit  you  may  be  sure  that  you  have  never 
been  grafted  as  a  living  branch  into  the  living  Vine  ;  and 
if  you  are  bearing  fruit,  you  may  be  sure  tiiat  you  are  a 
living  branch  of  that  living  Vine.  Satan  is  quite  willing 
that  you  should  discuss  metaphysics,  and  Calvinism,  and 
Arminianism,  if  he  can  only  keep  you  from  questioning 
your  relationship  to  Christ,  and  Christ's  relationship  to  }'0U. 
Pie  says,  "  As  the  branch  cannot  bear  fruit  of  itself,  ex- 
cept it  abide  in  the  vine ;  no  more  can  ye,  except  ye  abide 
in  me."  And  he  repeats  it  again,  "  I  am  the  vine,  ye  are 
the  branches.  If  a  man  abide  not  in  me,  he  is  cast  forth 
as  a  branch,  and  is  withered  ;  and  men  gather  them,  and 
cast  them  into  the  fire,  and  they  are  burned."  And  then 
he  proceeds  another  step,  "  If  ye  abide  in  me,"  as  a  branch 
in  the  vine,  "ye  shall  ask  Avhat  ye  will,  and  it  shall  be  done 
unto  you."  What  a  magnificent  promise  is  that !  "  Ask 
what  ye  will,  and  it  shall  be  done  unto  you."  I  put  absolute 
confidence  in  these  words.  I  have  often  noticed  that  many 
Christians  say,  "  Oh,  should  I  ask  this,  or  siiould  I  ask  that 
favor,  before  I  know  whether  it  be  good  lor  me  ?  "  My 
answer  to  such  an  inquiry  is.  This  is  not  you^r  business  to 
determine.  The  Great  Giver  of  all  will  determine  what  is 
best  for  you.  He  asks  of  you  from  the  fulness  of  your 
heart  to  tell  him  your  least  wants,  and  your  greatest  wants, 
and  he  has  promised  that  he  will  satisfy  and  supply  them 
all.  It  is  quite  true,  he  may  not  give  you  precisely  what 
you  verbally  ask,  but  he  will  give  you  substantially  wl^at 


.TOHX    XV.  281 

you  ask,  whicli  is  far  better.  Tlie  apostle  Paul  prayed  tliat 
his  more  bitter  grief  might  be  taken  away  from  him  ;  the 
Redeemer  replied,  "  No,  not  ?o  ;  but  my  grace  is  sufficient 
for  you."  If  I  have  a  heavy  load,  there  are  two  ways  of 
giving  me  relief;  either  by  faking  away  my  load,  or  by 
giving  me  double  strength  to  bear  it.  I  ask  in  my  simplic- 
ity, "  Lighten,  O  Lord,  the  load  that  is  too  heavy ; "  he 
says,  "  The  load  is  expedient,  but  I  will  double  your  strength, 
and  thus  enable  you  to  bear  it."  So  that  you  may  take  it 
as  an  absolute  fact  that  never  has  been  violated  in  the  histo- 
ry of  the  Cliurch  of  Christ,  tliat  "  If  ye  ask  any  thing  in  my 
name,  the  Father  will  do  it ;  and  it  shall  be  done  unto  you." 
We  are  to  ask  of  Him  to  supply  the  least  wants,  we  are  to  ask 
of  Ilim  to  supply  the  greatest ;  the  ache  of  to-day,  and  the 
agony  of  to-morrow ;  the  loss  that  you  barely  feel,  and  the 
loss  that  is  most  bittei',  God  asks  you,  encourages  you  —  it 
is  your  privilege,  it  is  his  demand,  that  you  should  tell  God 
what  it  is,  ask  him  to  give  you  what  you  feel  that  you  need ; 
and  you  may  retire  from  the  bowed  knee,  and  the  uphfted 
heart,  Avith  the  unflxltering  persuasion  that  heaven  and  earth 
may  pass  awnj,  but  God  cannot  fail  to  answer  your  peti- 
tion. Now  do  not  therefore  begin  first  to  discriminate,  as 
if  you  were  the  judge  of  what  is  expedient  for  you,  and 
then  to  pray  ;  but  begin  first  to  pray  for  all  that  you  want, 
and  leave  to  God  his  own  grand  prerogative  of  deciding 
what  it  is  best  and  most  expedient  for  you  to  give  in  answer 
to  your  petition. 

Our  Lord  tells  them  what  is  one  of  the  great  proofs  of 
union  to  him,  and  the  best  expression  of  love  to  him,  "  That 
ye  keep  my  commandments."  In  other  words,  if  you  are 
true  branches  you  will  bear  fruit ;  if  you  have  love  to  Christ, 
which  is  only  another  expression  for  the  life  of  Christ,  then 
you  will  do  what  he  commands  you.  Herein  is  the  great 
guarantee  that  evangelical  religion  will  always  be  practical 
religion.  He  whom  you  love  the  most  will  exercise  over 
24* 


282  scKirxuRE  headings. 

you  the  greatest  supremacy  and  sovereignty ;  he  that  has 
been  redeemed  by  grace  will  not  be  the  first  to  trample  on 
religion  ;  but  he  that  has  received  all  from  Christ  will  be 
the  very  first  to  go  forth  and  show  how  much  he  loves  him 
by  the  sacrifices  he  can  make  in  obedience  to  his  blessed 
word  and  revealed  will.  But  not  only  does  he  ask  you  to 
bring  forth  fruit,  or  to  do  his  commandments,  because  you 
are  branches  of  the  vine ;  but  he  adds  that  in  doing  so  it  is 
his  prayer  that  his  joy  may  remain  in  you,  and  that  this  joy 
may  be  full.  Now  what  was  Christ's  joy  ?  It  is  remarkable 
that  our  Lord  in  the  Gospels  often  wept,  he  was  often 
grieved  in  heart ;  he  was  never  known,  I  think,  but  on  one 
occasion,  to  rejoice.  And  the  joy  set  before  him,  we  are 
told,  is,  "  He  shall  see  the  travail  of  his  soul,  and  shall  be 
satisfied ;  "  and  "  for  the  joy  set  before  him  he  endured  the 
cross,  despising  the  shame."  Isaiah  tells  us  that  joy  was 
the  result  of  his  agony,  his  cross,  his  passion.  Wherever, 
therefore,  there  is  a  conversion  actual  on  earth  there  is  re- 
sponsive joy  circulated  in  heaven.  Wherever  a  new  prize 
is  snatched  from  Satan,  and  given  as  a  trophy  to  the  Re- 
deemer, there  Christ's  joy  is  exercised,  and  the  angels  of  the 
sky  rejoice  because  the  lost  is  found,  and  the  dead  is  alive. 
And  he  prays  that  this  joy  may  be  yours.  There  is  a  joy 
which  is  natural  —  the  joy  of  health,  the  joy  of  a  bright 
and  sunny  day,  the  joy  of  companions  that  we  love,  of  him 
we  esteem";  there  is  a  joy  in  the  study  of  literature  that  is 
beautiful,  pure,  and  instructive.  All  this  is  right,  but  it 
is  only  natural  joy.  There  is  a  joy  richer  and  higher 
than  that ;  the  joy  that  springs  from  reading  not  of  the 
triumphs  of  this  world,  but  of  the  triumphs  of  the  cross  ; 
the  joy  that  springs  up  in  the  heart  from  hearing  that 
China  has  opened  its  impregnable  fortresses  to  the  ever- 
lasting Gospel;  that  the  great  river  Euphrates  begins  to 
ebb,  that  the  streams  that  make  glad  the  city  of  our  God 
may  flow  in  its  deserted  channels ;  and  that  over  all  the 


JOHN  XV.  283 

earth  Christianity  seems  to  have  risen  from  its  apathy,  and 
to  have  gone  forth  like  the  angel  of  the  everlasting  Gospel 
to  proclaim  the  glad  sound  to  every  creature  under  heaven. 
That  is  Christ's  joy ;  and  he  that  is  in  Christ  will  not  be  a 
stranger  to  such. 

Our  Lord  calls  them  not  servants  —  for  that  was  placing 
them  in  too  lowly  a  position  —  but  he  calls  them  friends. 
And  then  he  tells  them,  "  Ye  have  not  chosen  me,  but  I 
have  chosen  you."  How  true  of  us  all !  You  did  not  make 
the  first  movement  towards  Christ ;  he  made  the  first  move- 
ment towards  you ;  he  touched  you  by  his  grace,  your  ap- 
proacli  to  him  was  the  beautiful  and  precious  response.  If 
we  were  to  wait  till  the  first  movement  began  with  us,  we 
should  wait  for  ever.  But  it  is  He  that  in  his  sovereign 
love  first  influences  us  ;  and  we,  in  responsive  gratitude,  love 
him  who  first  loved  us.  All  the  disputes  that  true  Christians 
entertain  about  the  doctrines  of  Predestination  and  Election 
are  mere  logomachies.  Wherever  there  is  a  true  Christian 
he  may  deny  the  word  "  election,"  but  he  accepts  and  glories 
in  the  substance  of  it.  The  high  Calvinist  will  say,  "  God 
chose  me  from  eternity  to  everlasting  life  ;  therefore  he 
called  me,  therefore  he  justifie(|  me."  I  believe  this  is  per- 
fectly true.  Tlie  low  Calvinist,  or  the  Arminian,  will  say, 
"  I  do  not  believe  in  election  at  all."  You  say  to  him,  "  Did 
you  call  upon  God  before  he  first  influenced  you  ?  "  "  Oh, 
no  ;  his  grace  first  touched  me,  then  I  obeyed ;  he  first 
called,  then  I  answered  ;  if  he  had  left  me  alone,  then  I  had 
perished  everlastingly."  The  dispute  between  these  two  is 
a  dispute  about  words.  What  does  it  matter  whether  God 
resolved  from  everlasting  ages  to  redeem  me  by  his  grace, 
or  whether  he  resolved  five  minutes  ago  to  do  it  ?  It  is 
sovereignty  on  his  part  in  either  case ;  and  in  either  case  we 
have  evidence  that  the  influence  first  proceeds  from  him. 
The  fact  is,  a  great  deal  of  the  definitions  of  theology  are 
necessarily  imperfect.     We  speak  of  the  past,  the  present, 


284  SCRIPTUKE    READINGS. 

and  the  future ;  but  with  God  there  is  no  past,  and  there  is 
no  future  ;  but  one  luminous,  all  enveloping,  everlasting  now. 
And  to  speak  of  having  chosen  us  in  the  past  is  merely 
to  express  a  great  thought  in  the  imperfect  and  inadequate 
language  of  mankind,  "  I  have  chosen  vou,  ye  have  not 
chosen  me." 

Then  he  lays  down  a  distinction  and  a  characteristic  of 
the  people  of  God  ;  "  If  the  world  hate  you,  ye  know  that 
it  hated  me  before  it  hated  you.  If  ye  were  of  the  world, 
the  world  would  love  his  own."  One  cannot  deny  that  there 
is  a  distinction  here,  clear,  sharp,  unmistakable,  between  a 
body  that  is  commonly  called  ••  the  Church,"  or  here  called 
'•  the  branches  of  the  vine  ;  "  and  a  body  that  is  commonly 
called  "  the  world ; "  and  that  there  will  be  an  opposition 
and  antagonism  between  them  to  the  end.  Let  us  ask  our- 
selves, what  is  the  reason  that  there  are  no  martyrs  now  ? 
"What  is  the  reason  that  the  world  smiles  on  the  Christian, 
compliments  the  Gospel,  regards  Christianity  as  a  proper 
and  suitable  religion,  and  subscribes  with  all  its  heart  the 
strictest  creeds  that  it  contains?  Is  it  that  the  Church  has 
become  more  worldly,  or  is  it  that  the  world  has  become 
more  Christian  ?  Perhaps  it  is  partly  both.  The  world  is 
baptized,  the  Church  does  not  hold  fast  its  high  and  lofty 
ground ;  it  has  come  to  terms ;  there  is  concession  on  both 
sides,  there  is  compromise  on  either  side ;  for  if  we  were 
what  our  Master  was,  the  world  would  probably  hate  us 
still :  and  if  the  world  be  now  what  it  was  then,  we  should 
feel  it  our  duty  to  maintain  antagonism  to  that  world.  You 
ask,  what  is  the  world  ?  I  do  not  mean  by  the  world  its 
houses,  its  streets,  its  buildings,  its  painting,  its  poetry,  its 
music  —  these  things  may  be  the  handmaids  of  the  Gospel ; 
there  is  nothing  in  literature,  there  is  nothing  in  science, 
there  is  nothing  in  poetry  that  is  necessarily  hostUe  to 
Christianity.  TThat  I  mean  by  the  world  is  the  lust  of  the 
eye,  the  pride  of  life,  the  love  of  this  world.     Or,  let  me 


jon\  XV.  285 

define  it  more  strictly,  as  not  the  love  of  things  that  are  un- 
lawful, but  the  excessive  love  of  things  that  are  lawful. 
Most  men  sin  not  bj  loving  what  is  positively  forbidden,  but 
by  over  loving  what  is  positively  lawful ;  and  the  excessive 
love  of  a  world  in  itself  sinless,  that  excludes,  or  damps,  or 
diminishes  the  love  of  Christ,  is  as  fatal  to  the  soul  as  the 
love  of  that  which  is  unlawful,  sinful,  and  forbidden. 

Our  Lord  then  closes  this  beautiful  chapter  with  the 
promise,  "  But  when  the  Comforter  is  come,  whom  I  will 
send  unto  you  from  the  Fatlier,  even  the  Spirit  of  truth, 
which  proceedeth  from  the  Father,  he  shall  testify  of  me." 
This  is  the  great  promise  that  Christ  made  to  his  own  before 
he  left  them.  Now  is  not  this  Comforter  a  Person  ?  How  is 
it  possible  that  the  Unitarian  can  escape  the  conclusion  that, 
the  Holy  Spirit  is  a  Person,  that  our  Blessed  Redeemer  is  a 
Person,  and  that  the  Father  also  is  a  Person  ?  Could  it  be 
said  that  a  figure  of  speech  will  descend,  that  a  figure  of 
speech  will  testify,  that  a  figure  of  speech  will  bring  to  re- 
membrance, will  be  grieved,  will  instruct,  will  sanctify  ?  It 
is  nonsense.  It  is  obvious  that  this  Being  spoken  of  is  a 
Person.  And  here  in  this  verse,  you  observe,  we  have 
Three  Persons  —  the  Comforter,  the  Father,  and  the  Blessed 
Redeemer  that  sends  that  Comforter  from  the  Father.  The 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity  is  here,  not  in  name  —  it  is  not  worth 
while  to  quarrel  about  names  —  but  in  substance,  in  reality, 
and  in  truth.  And  this  Comforter  is  first  of  all  the  Spirit 
of  truth  ;  '•  the  Comforter,  even  the  Spirit  of  truth."  There 
is  no  comfort  in  a  lie  ;  there  is,  ''  Peace,  peace,  when  there 
is  no  peace."  The  Spirit  of  comfort  is  first  of  all  the  Spirit 
of  truth ;  and  till  he  comes  into  the  heart  as  the  Spirit  of 
truth,  breaking  up  all  error,  he  will  not  abide  as  the  Spirit 
of  comfort,  consoling  you  under  all  your  trials.  Then  we 
are  told  that  this  blessed  Comforter  will  testify  of  Christ. 
Now  here  is  the  work  of  the  Spirit.  He  will  not  reveal 
another  Gospel,   add  to  the  Bible ;  but  he   will   testify  of 


286  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

Christ ;  he  will  tell  you  what  Christ  is.  The  thought,  there- 
fore, in  your  mind  that  glorities  the  Saviour  is  the  teaching 
of  the  Spirit ;  the  sermon  that  you  hear  that  glorifies  Christ 
is  the  teaching  of  the  Spirit ;  and  that  sermon  which  mag- 
nifies the  creature,  and  diminishes  the  Saviour,  —  which  ex- 
alts what  man  can  do,  and  dims  or  shades  down  what  Christ 
has  done,  is  not  the  teaching  and  inspiration  of  the  Spirit ; 
for  the  Spirit's  work  is  to  testify  of  Christ. 


Note.  —  The  vine  and  branches  stand  in  a  much  nearer  connection 
than  the  shepherd  and  the  sheep,  or  the  lord  of  the  vineyard  and  the 
vines ;  and  answer  to  the  Head  and  members  (Eph.  v.  23,  30  ;  Col.  ii. 
19),  linked  together  by  a  common  organization,  and  informed  by  one 
and  the  same  life. 

[/)  ukr)dLvfj.\  Not  only,  "  by  which  prophecy  is  fulfilled ;  "  not  only 
"  in  which  the  organism  and  qualities  of  the  vine  are  most  nobly  re- 
alized "  (Tholuck);  but,  as  in  chap.  i.  9,  original,  archetypal.  The 
material  creations  of  God  are  only  inferior  examples  of  that  finer 
spiritual  life  and  organism  in  which  the  creature  is  raised  up  to  par- 
take of  the  Divine  nature  ;  only  uvTtTVTra  tuv  akrjdiviJv,  Heb.  ix.  24  ; 
VTVodeiyfiara  tuv  ev  toI(  ovp.  ib.  23  ;  see  chap.  vi.  32. 

[6  yeupyoc.]  Not  only  the  tiller  of  the  land,  but  the  vine-planter  and 
dresser ;  He  who  has  originated  the  relation  between  the  vine  and 
branches,  by  planting  the  vine  in  this  earth,  (the  nature  of  man,)  and 
who  looks  for  and  insures  the  bringing  fortli  of  fruit.  —  Alford. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

apostles  tet  unenlightened. candor  of  jesus. sorrow  at 

Christ's  departure. — -spirit's  work. — prophecv.  —  prayer. 

There  are  two  or  three  leading  thoughts  it  is  essential  to 
keep  in  mind,  in  order  to  understand  the  continuity  and  the 
reason  of  the  remarks  in  this  chapter.  It  was  after  the  first 
communion  ever  celebrated  upon  earth,  that  our  Lord  ad- 
dressed the  little  group  that  were  around  that  table,  in  the 
•words  of  the  14th,  15th,  and  16th  chapters  of  this  Gospel. 
The  text  that  he  took,  if  I  may  use  the  expression,  was,  "  Let 
not  your  hearts  be  troubled ; "  and  you  will  find  that  every 
statement  contained  in  these  three  chapters  is  each  a  reason 
why  their  hearts  should  not  be  troubled  because  he  was 
about  to  go  to  the  Father,  and  to  leave  them  alone.  And 
secondly,  you  must  understand  that  the  disciples,  even  with 
the  personal  teaching  of  our  blessed  Lord,  remained  till  the 
day  of  Pentecost  in  a  comparatively  unenlightened  state. 
They  constantly  blundered,  they  constantly  misapprehended 
the  nature  of  his  kingdom  and  his  coming  glory  ;  and  he  as 
constantly,  and  with  unwearied  patience,  taught  them,  line 
upon  line,  correcting  their  errors,  and  making  their  very 
errors  the  background  from  which  he  threw  out  the  most 
magnificent  and  precious  truths.  In  this  chapter,  therefore, 
you  will  find  remarks  made  by  the  apostles  which  indicate  a 
comparatively  unenlightened  condition.  In  the  next  place, 
you  will  notice  in  this  chapter  the  candor,  if  I  may  use  an 
expression  so  obvious,  of  our  blessed  Lord.  If  our  Lord 
had  been  a  mere  pretender,  he  never  would  have  shown  his 
followers  the  dark  side  ^f  things.     He  would  have  pictured 

287) 


288  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

the  future  all  brilliancy,  their  progress  all  conquest,  and 
never  have  hinted  to  them  the  possibility  of  suffering  for  the 
Saviour's  sake.  But  as  you  observe  here,  with  a  candor  the 
most  transparent,  he  tells  them  that  tribulation,  and  bonds, 
and  imprisonment,  awaited  them  ;  nay,  "  The  time  cometh, 
that  whosoever  killeth  you  shall  think  he  doeth  God  service." 
Now  no  one  dependent  on  pretence  for  progress  would  have 
ever  hazarded  such  a  prophecy.  But  the  very  fact  that  he  did 
so,  shows  that  he  claimed  their  adhesion  on  the  ground  of  con- 
viction and  on  no  other.  He  says,  I  ask  you  to  adhere  to  me, 
not  for  the  sake  of  tempoi-al  reward,  but  because  your  own 
judgments,  your  own  hearts,  your  own  consciences  attest  the 
divinity  of  my  mission,  the  justice  and  the  truthfulness  of  my 
claims.  It  is  truth  with  martyrdom  in  preference  to  error 
with  all  the  prosperity  that  this  world  can  give  you. 
"  These  things  I  have  told  you,  that  wb.en  the  time  shall 
come,  ye  may  remember  that  I  told  you  of  them ; "  and  you 
may  learn  how  truly  I  spoke,  how  candidly  I  delineated  the 
future,  and  how  I  saw  the  future  as  transparently  as  I  see 
the  present,  when  I  told  you  what  awaited  you.  "  Now 
sorrow  has  filled  your  hearts,  because  I  go  away."  That 
was  the  ground  of  their  grief;  they  felt  that  the  central  col- 
umn around  which  they  had  clustered  and  clung,  and  found 
a  protection  and  a  shelter,  was  about  to  be  removed.  They 
now  feared  and  felt  that  the  shadow  of  that  tree  under  which 
they  had  sat  so  sweetly  and  securely,  was  about"  to  be  with- 
drawn ;  sorrow  filled  their  hearts  at  the  prospective  loss  of 
so  dear  a  Master,  so  beloved  a  Saviour,  so  precious  and  so 
patient  a  Friend.  But  he  says  to  them,  "  What  you  look 
upon  as  calamity  is  really  blessing,  if  you  can  see  it  in  its 
right  light.  My  departure  to  the  Father  will  not  be  desola- 
tion to  you,  but  a  blessing  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory."  So 
it  is  with  our  worst  trials.  The  darkest  night  has  a  bright 
side :  the  severest  trial  has  blessings  in  its  bosom.  We  are 
prone  to  look  upon  the  sad  side,  and  mourn  ;  a  little  more 


JOHN  XVI.  289 

impartiality  will  teach  lis  to  look  on  the  bright  side,  that  smiles 
may  mingle  witli  onr  tears,  and  joy  mitigate  our  sorrow. 
And  he  tells  them  the  ground  of  this  now.  lie  says,  "  It  is 
expedient  that  1  go  away  ;  tor  if  I  go  not  away,  the  Comforter 
will  not  come  unto  you  ;  but  if  I  depart,  I  will  send  him  unto 
you."  The  constant  promise  of  the  Saviour  was  One  to  sup- 
ply his  place ;  and  tliat  One  to  supply  his  place  only  till  he 
should  come  again.  The  Spirit  is  not  the  lasting  substitute 
for  Christ's  personal  presence,  but  the  temporary  substitute. 
And  when  Christ  comes  himself,  the  Spirit's  work  shall  be 
completed  and  done.  And  how  very  interesting  the  view  he 
gives  of  that  Spirit!  He  is  called  "the  Comforter"  —  lit- 
erally, the  Paraclete  or  Advocate  —  one  that  speaks  for  you 
where  a  word  in  season  will  have  great  power;  one  ^Yho  has 
weight,  and  authority,  and  influence,  and  can  make  your  case 
known,  represent  your  condition,  and  secure  for  you  the  pre- 
cise help  that  you  stand  in  need  of.  "  It  is  therefore  expe- 
dient that  I  go;  for  when  I  go  I  will  send  him  unto  you." 
And  when  he  is  come,  what  will  he  do?  He  will  not  only 
reprove  —  for  that  is  too  mild  a  translation,  —  but  he  will 
convict  the  world  of  sin,  of  righteousness,  and  of  judgment. 
This  will  be  the  world's  great  sin,  that  the  Spirit  will  bi'ing 
home  to  the  world's  hard  heart,  namely,  that  they  refuse 
to  believe  on  him.  And  he  will  convict  the  world  of  right- 
eousness ;  a  righteousness  for  them,  and  unto  all  that  believe  ; 
the  bequest  of  him  who  has  gone  to  the  Father.  And  of 
judgment  to  come,  by  seeing  the  earnest  of  it  now  in  that  the 
prince  of  this  world  —  that  is  Satan  —  is  judged  and  cast 
down. 

He  then  tells  them,  "  I  have  many  things  to  say  unto  you, 
but  ye  cannot  bear  them  now."  He  taught  them  as  they 
were  able  to  bear.  And  therefore  we  may  expect  that 
after  Pentecost,  when  their  minds  were  disciplined  and  pre- 
pared for  ampler  instruction,  he  then  taught  them  greater 
and  more  glorious  things,  as  they  were  able  to  bear  them. 

25 


290  sciupTURi:  readings. 

"  When  tiu;  Spirit  of  Truth  is  come,  he  Avill  guiJe  you  into 
all  truth."  Now  niiirk ;  this  Divine  Person  is  called,  first, 
the  Comforter  ;  next  the  Spirit  of  Truth.  And  what  does 
this  teach  us  ?  That  there  can  only  l>c  comfort  in  the  truth. 
A  falsehood  gives  "  Peace,  peace  ;  "  the  truth  gives  the  })eace 
that  passeth  understanding.  You  need,  therefore,  to  know 
your  real  moral  and  spiritual  condition,  by  the  teaching  of 
the  Spirit.  lie  brings  before  you  the  delight,  the  joy,  and 
the  satisfaction  of  true  conversion,  by  knowing  the  Spirit  of 
Truth  as  the  Comforter  in  your  liearts.  "  And  when  tlie 
Spirit  is  come,  he  will  guide  jou  into  all  truth."  Into  all 
truth.  That  does  not  mean  every  truth.  The  Spirit  does 
not  teach  man  astronomy:  excellent  Christians  are  often  bad 
astronomers ;  sp)iritually  taught  believers  are  not  always 
taught  geology ;  and  therefore,  when  it  says  that  the  Spirit 
Avill  lead  you  into  all  truth,  it  means  all  truth  essential  to 
your  salvation.  And  the  Holy  Spirit  does  not  teach  us  all 
the  truths  that  relate  to  discipline.  Thus  Christians  diifcr, 
and  have  differed,  and  will  differ  to  the  end,  not  in  vital 
matters,  but  in  circumstantial  details.  But  we  may  expect 
that  the  Spirit  will  lead  us  into  all  the  truth  that  relates  to 
the  safety  of  the  soul,  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  to  the  path 
that  conducts  to  heaven.  And  hence,  in  the  original,  it  is 
so,  —  "  He  will  lead  you  into  all  the  truth  ; "  meaning  essen- 
tial truth;  "for  he  shall  not  speak  of  himself;  but  whatso- 
ever he  shall  hear,  that  shall  he  speak :  and  he  will  show 
you  things  to  come."  Now  what  a  remarkable  promise  is 
here :  the  Holy  Spirit  is  promised  to  show  you  things  to 
come.  But  does  that  mean  that  he  will  make  every  true 
Christian  a  prophet  ?  Not  at  all.  Many  of  the  apostles 
were  not ;  but  this  promise  is  not  special  and  peculiar  to  the 
apostles,  but  ai>plicable  to  all  true  Christians  in  all  ages 
of  the  Christian  Church.  Then  how  will  he  show  you 
thing's  to  come  ?  Not  by  enabling  you  to  prophesy,  but  by 
opening  up  to  you  more  clearly  that  which  he  h;is  written. 


.10IIN  XVI.  291 

Some  jieople  will  read  all  the  Bible  excejit  the  prophecies; 
but  really  that  is  taking  up  Roman  Catholic  ground,  it  is  not 
Protestant  ground.  If  there  be  one  truth  that  is  more  fixed 
and  absolute  than  another,  it  is  that  all  Scripture  is  given  by- 
inspiration,  and  all  Scripture  is  profitable ;  and  more  than 
that,  there  is  a  special  promise  of  a  special  blessing  on  him 
that  reads  and  understands  the  things  that  are  written  in  the 
l")ropliecies  of  this  Book  ;  and  there  is  a  promise  given,  that 
"  the  Spirit  will  show  you  things  to  come,"  as  those  things 
to  come  are  written  in  his  own  inspired  and  blessed  Word. 
Whilst,  therefore,  we  are  not  to  dogmatize  in  trying  to  as- 
certain the  things  of  the  future,  we  are  not  to  rush  into  the 
opposite  extreme,  and  shut  our  eyes  and  exclude  from  our 
study  the  predictions  of  the  future  altogether. 

It  is  a  A'ery  strange  thing  that  one  can  scarcely  ever 
^.'peak  of  unfulfilled  prophecy,  or  of  what  seems  to  us  to  be 
probably  its  meaning,  without  one  starting  up  and  saying, 
"  Oil,  such  a  divine  says  the  end  of  the  woi-ld  is  to  be  in 
such  a  year  ;  and  such  another  interpreter  of  prophecy  says 
Christ  is  to  come  on  such  a  day."  Now,  all  this  is  leaping 
to  conclusions  for  which  there  is  no  warrant.  One  can  show 
what  is  clearly  recorded  in  prophecy  ;  one  can  show  v/hat 
is  the  most  probable  meaning  of  that  prophecy,  —  and  as 
the  end  comes  nearer,  the  prophecy  will  become  plainer,  — 
without  assuming  the  prophet's  function,  and  predicting 
where  we  can  only  proclaim  what  God  has  predicted  be- 
fore. It  is  one  thing,  as  I  have  told  you,  to  foi-etell  future 
events ;  it  is  quite  another  thing  to  foretell  the  predictions 
of  them  contained  in  God's  blessed  Word.  As  the  age  rolls 
onward  to  its  conclusion,  those  things  that  were  hidden  or 
mistaken  ten-years,  twenty  years,  a  hundred  years  before, 
will  become  plainer,  distincter,  more  unmistakable  ;  and  I 
am  sure  that  we  are  now  in  this  year  in  a  position  to  ex- 
plain unfulfilled  projihecy  far  more  advantageous  than  any 
that  preceded  u-^.     1  think  it  may  now  be  coiK;eded,  without 


292  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

a  doubt,  that  the  sixth  vial  has  eitlier  been  poured  out,  or 
is  pouring  out.  I  stated  in  1848,  that  it  Avas  then  trembling 
in  the  angel's  hand  ;  from  conclusions  gathered  from  the 
written  Word,  we  saw  that  the  sixth  vial  was  then  about  to 
be  poured  down.  Now  read  the  newspapers,  .read  the 
speeches  made  at  diflerent  religious  meetings  ;  and  you  will 
find  noblemen,  statesmen.  Christian  ministers,  all  regarding 
it  as  a  fact  that  the  river  Euphrates  is  drying  up,  that 
the  Mahometan  power  is  rapidly  ceasing  to  be  a  power, 
and  likely  to  be  absorbed  in  what  will  be  I'ar  better,  —  a 
Chi-istian  dynasty  occupying  the  place  that  has  been  over- 
shadowed by  a  miserable  superstition  for  so  many  hundred 
years  before. 

We  do  not  undertake  this  war  into  which  we  have  been 
plunged,  —  a  war  which  everybody  feels,  and  we  are  thank- 
ful they  do  feel,  to  be  proper  ;  a  war  undertaken  in  defence 
of  the  weak  against  the  fierce  devastating  ambition  of  the 
Russian  Autocrat,  —  we  do  not  go  to  Turkey  in  order  to^ 
prop  up  Mahometanism,  or  to  try  and  make  the  Crescent  en- 
dure a  little  longer ;  we  go  to  protect  a  nation  from  the  op- 
pressor, and  to  shelter  ourselves  from  the  consequences  of 
the  success  of  that  oppressor.  All  this  is  perfectly  reason- 
able, and  does  not  identify  us  with  the  support  of  Mahome- 
tanism. If  I  were  to  see  the  Pope  of  Rome  insulted  on  the 
streets  of  London,  treated  by  a  mob  in  a  savage  and  cruel 
manner,  I  should  feel  it  my  duty  to  interpose,  protect  him 
with  all  my  might,  and  conduct  him  to  the  nearest  place  of 
shelter  and  safety.  But  you  would  not  say  therefore  that  I 
want  to  support  the  pope,  or  to  prop  up  the  popedom  :  I 
only  want  to  do  justly,  to  love  mercy,  and  to  feel  sympathy 
with  the  oppressed,  whatever  be  his  creed  or  character. 
And  besides,  it  is  very  important  to  observe,  that  what- 
ever be  the  clear  indications  of  prophecy  in  reference  to 
the  future,  those  indications  are  not  to  direct  our  duties. 
Many  persons  say,  "  Oh,  you  gather  from  prophecy  that  the 


joiix  XVI.  293 

Russian  power  will  yet  reach  Palestine."  Well,  suppose 
you  do.  Then,  in.^tanlly  the  critic  in  tlie  newspaper  says, 
"  Tlien  !iow  can  you  [iray  that  (he  English  shall  be  victori- 
ous ? "  I  answer,  it  was  predi(;ted  that  the  Jews  should 
crucify  our  Lord  ;  but  if  I  had  seen  them  about  to  commit 
that  awful  crime,  I  should  have  protested  against  it.  It  is 
stated  in  proi)hecy  that  the  Jew  is  to  be  a  scoff  and  a  by- 
word, that  he  is  to  be  spit  upon  ;  but  I  am  not,  therefore,  to 
go  and  insult  him,  and  persecute  him.  Our  duties  are  to 
be  governed  by  plain  precepts,  not  by  unfulfilled  prophecy; 
the  God  wdio  has  recorded  the  prophecy  will  see  to  its 
fulfilment.  The  precepts  that  I  read  I  am  bound  care- 
fully and  patiently  to  obey.  Come  to  the  plain  prescrip- 
tions to  regulate  your  conduct ;  interpret  the  prophecies  as 
God  may  give  you  light,  and  the  Spirit  may  enable  you  to 
do  so  ;  but  remember,  duty  is  the  result  of  obedience  to  pre- 
cept ;  patience  and  hope  are  the  graces  that  spring  from  the 
knowledge  of  prophecy. 

The  Spirit  thus  is  promised  to  show  you  things  to  come. 
Another  attribute  of  the  Spirit  is,  "  He  shall  glorify  me  ; 
for  he  shall  receive  of  mine,  and  shall  show  it  unto  you." 
Then  some  of  his  disciples  evidently  misunderstood  him, 
and  could  not  understand  what  he  said,  when  he  told  them, 
"  a  little  while."  They  said,  "  What  is  this  that  he  saith." 
Then  Jesus  explained,  what  he  meant  by  it.  "  Ye  shall 
weep  and  lament,  but  the  world  shall  rejoice  ;  and  ye  shall 
be  sorrowful ;  but  you  have  a  bright  reversion  of  joy, — 
your  sorrow  shall  be  turned  into  joy."  He  shows  that  this 
dispensation  is  the  season  of  travail  and  of  sorrow  ;  that  in 
the  age  to  come  the  man  child  shall  appear,  spoken  of  in 
the  book  of  Revelation,  who  shall  reign  from  sea  to  s-ea. 
And  then  their  sorrow,  and  the  tears  and  the  travail  of  the- 
Church  that  has  been  waiting  eighteen  hundred  years  for 
her  Lord,  shall  be  turned  into  joy,  for  he  that  is  prom- 

25  ■* 


294  SCKU^TURE    KKADIXGS. 

ised    comes    to    sway  his    sceptre  over  a  reclaimed  and  a 
regenerated  world. 

He  then  urges  them  in  very  earnest  tei-ms  to  ask.  Prayer 
is  his  great  prescription  ;  prayer,  he  says,  that  never  is 
lifted  up  without  an  answer,  —  is  best  and  most  expedient 
for  you.  He  tells  them,  "  I  came  forth  from  the  Father, 
and  am  come  into  the  world.  Again,  I  leave  the  world, 
and  go  to  the  Father."  Now,  this  text  could  not  prove  the 
Deity  of  Christ ;  but  if  a  single  Unitarian  read  these  lines, 
I  submit  the  difficulty.  How  can  you  explain  this  state- 
ment, on  the  supposition  that  Christ  was  a  mere  man,  "  I 
came  forth  from  the  Father  —  I  go  to  the  Father  ?  "  His 
going  to  the  Father,  and  leaving  this  world,  and  his  coming 
forth  from  the  Father,  surely  proves  antecedent  existence  to 
his  appearance  upon  earth ;  and  if  it  does  not  prove  what 
other  texts  prove,  —  his  Deity,  —  it  proves  unequivocally 
his  preexistence. 

He  tells  them,  "These  things  have  I  spoken  unto  you," 
that  in  me  ye  might  have  peace  ;  "  peace  in  Christ,  —  peace 
in  his  precious  blood,  —  peace  in  his  glorious  promise  ;  and 
if  you  have  it  not  in  me,  you  will  have  it  nowhere  else ;  for 
"  in  the  world  ye  shall  have  tribulation  ;  but  be  of  good 
cheer,  the  world  shall  not  master  you.  It  is  a  beaten  world ; 
I  have  conquered  it ;  and  because  I  have  overcome,  you 
shall  overcome  in  my  strength  also." 


CHAPTER  XVI.  33. 

PEACE,    NOT    IN    CHRIST'S    WORDS,  BUT  IN  CHRIST. PEACE  IN  SPITE 

OF    THE    WORLD. — THROUGH    TRUTH. THE  PRODUCT  OF  TRUTHS 

STATED    BY    OUR    LORD.  CHRIST    IS    GOD. THE    WORLD    PERSE- 
CUTES   TO    THE    END. IN    CHRIST    19    PEACE    TO    THE    END. 

The  last  verse  in  this  chapter  is  the  epitome  and  end  of 
three  chapters  :  "These  things  I  have  spoken  unto  you,  that 
in  me  ye  might  have  peace." 

"  The  14th,  loth,  and  16th  chapters  of  the  Gospel  accord- 
ing to  St.  John,  was  the  discourse  given  by  our  blessed  Re- 
deemer immediately  after  the  celebration  of  the  first  com- 
munion that  was  ever  celebrated  on  earth.  These  three 
chapters  constitute  an  eloquent  post-communion  address. 
The  whole  of  that  address,  so  beautiful,  so  instructive,  was 
all  spoken  by  our  liJessed  Lord  to  his  sorrowing  and  yet 
rejoicing  disciples,  with  this  definite  and  distinct  end  in 
view,  that  in  him  they  might  have  peace.  Our  Lord  never 
spoke  merely  to  gratify  curiosity  or  to  unfold  the  splendors 
of  a  lofty  and  abstract  speculative  eloquence.  All  he  said, 
and  preached,  and  promised,  was  to  lead  the  hearts  of  his 
people  to  himself,  that  they  might  find  in  him  what  they 
could  not  find  in  a  surrounding  world  —  the  peace  that  pass- 
eth  understanding.  We  discover,  too,  from  this  inference, 
that  Jesus  contemplated  the  happiness  of  his  people  in  all 
ages,  not  only  as  possible,  but  as  what  really  and  truly  be- 
longed to  them.  "  I  liave  spoken  these  things,"  he  says, 
"  that  in  me  ye  may  have,"  —  what  I  design  you  to  have, 
what  it  is  my  desire  and  prayer  to  your  Father  in  heaven, 

(295) 


296  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

that  you  may  have  —  "peace."  Not  peace  from  the  world  ; 
Init  peace  in  spite  of  the  world,  and  in  Him  who  has  con- 
quered the  world,  and  bids  you,  therefore,  not  fear  its  smiles 
or  its  threats,  its  promises  or  its  pleasures.  It  is  evident, 
from  these  words  of  our  blessed  Lord,  that  a  convulsed  and 
agitated  state  of  the  world  would  be  its  condition  till  the  end 
of  the  age.  "What  he  spoke  to  them  he  S]>oke  to  us  and  to 
all ;  and  he  says,  "  In  me  ye  may  have  peace  ;  in  the  world 
ye  shall  have  tribulation."  This  is  true  to  the  end  of  time. 
It  is  not  the  characteristic  of  an  age,  or  of  a  peculiar  con- 
dition of  the  world ;  it  is  its  brand  to  the  end,  that  it  hates 
the  people  of  God.  And  it  is  one  of  the  characteristics 
that  define  sharply  and  clearly  the  true  character  of  the 
people  of  God,  that  whilst  they  are  persecuted  from  the 
world,  and  driven  from  it  by  the  storm,  they  find  peace  in 
Christ,  and  enjoy  therein  everlasting  and  blessed  rest. 
Even  Christ's  precious  and  blessed  words  are  not  to  be  to 
us  the  springs  of  peace.  He  does  not  say  here,  "  These 
things  have  I  spoken  unto,  you,"  —  and  more  musical,  more 
comforting  things  were  never  spoken  by  lips,  human  or 
divine,  —  he  does  not  say,  "  These  things  have  I  spoken 
unto,  you  that  in  these  things  ye  may  have  peace  ; "  but,  as 
if  to  show  how  truly  Christianity  is  personal  connection  be- 
tween a  living  man  and  a  living  Lord,  he  says,  "  These 
things  have  I  spoken,  not  that  in  these  things,  but  in  me  who 
have  spoken  these  things,  ye  may  have  peace."  Our  peace 
is  not  to  spring  from  justification  by  faith,  nor  from  sanctifi- 
cation  by  the  Spirit,  nor  from  the  most  thrilling  promises, 
nor  the  most  joyous  hopes  ;  but  from  Christ  the  Fountain. 
And  the  truth  that  brings  you  to  him,  the  sermon  that  shows 
you  that  he  alone  can  satisfy  every  want  and  meet  every 
jiossible  desire  —  these  are  words  and  sermons  that  are 
owned  and  blessed  of  God.  We  gather  from  this,  that  the 
peace  of  a  Christian  is  not  in  the  future,  but  in  the  present. 
He  does  not  say,  "  These  things  have  I  spoken  unto  you, 


JOHN  XVI.  297 

that  hereafter  in  lieaven  ye  may  have  peace  ;  "  but,  "  These 
things  have  I  spoken  unto  you  that  in  me  "  —  at  this  very 
moment  —  "  ye  may  have  peace."  Peace,  therefore,  is  not 
the  object  of  faith,  nor  is  it  the  object  of  hope ;  but  the  pecu- 
liar privilege  of  a  present  possession.  Peace  with  God,  and 
peace  in  Christ,  is  the  believer's  inheritance  now  by  sense 
and  blessed  experience  ;  not  the  believer's  hope  hereafter, 
as  a  thing  only  then  to  be  attained. 

This  peace  is  to  be  amidst  conflict,  and  in  spite  of  conflict; 
peace  in  the  prospect  of  deatli ;  peace  amid  the  footfall  of 
the  approaching  Judge;  peace  while  Sinai  thunders  and 
lightens,  and  the  conscience  is  shrinking  from  the  one  and 
the  other ;  peace  amidst  all  the  agitations  and  convulsions 
of  a  world  that  has  gone  from  God.  Ye  shall  have  peace 
in  Christ  if  all  should  be  chaos,  confusion,  and  uproar  about 
you.  It  is  not  true  that  a  Christian  is  to  have  peace  fi-om 
an  improved  world,  but  peace  in  Christ  in  spite  of  a  perse- 
cuting world.  But  the  best  way  to  show  the  full  force  of 
this  inference  of  our  Lord,  is  to  give  some  of  the  grounds  of 
that  inference,  as  these  are  contained  in  his  sermon  which  he 
preached.  And  if  you  will  read  at  your  leisure,  (and  I 
know  not  a  more  comforting,  or  a  more  blessed,  or  a  more 
interesting  study,)  the  14lh,  15th,  and  16th  chapters  of  this 
Gospel,  you  will  see  that  every  text,  or  at  least  every  dis- 
tinct topic  that  the  Saviour  touches,  is  a  reason,  or  is  one  of 
those  things  spoken  of  by  him  for  this  definite  end,  that  in 
him  ye  may  have  peace.  Let  us  try  to  make  the  experi- 
ment, and  see  if  it  be  not  so.  lie  begins  his  discourse,  his 
post-communion  sermon,  by  saying,  "  Ye  believe  in  God," 
—  you  are  now  theists  — "  believe  also  in  me,"  in  whom  God 
is  found,  not  the  consuming  fire,  as  on  Mount  Sinai,  or  in 
the  bush ;  not  the  unknown  God  of  the  Gentile ;  but  God 
your  Father,  manifest  by  me,  just  while  he  justifies  them 
that  believe.  Therefore,  in  me  ye  may  have  peace.  "  Let 
not  your  heart  be  troubled."     This  truth  I  tell  you  that  in 


298  scuirTuiJK  readings. 

me,  in  -whom  God  is  seen  to  be  a  Fathei*  forgiving  the  sins 
of  his  people,  ye  may  have  peace.  Again,  lie  says,  "  In  my 
Father's  house  are  many  mansions,"  or  resting-places  ;  "  I 
go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you."  Therefore,  amidst  the  trials, 
the  griefs,  the  disappointments  of  the  world,  look  up ;  think 
of  the  blessed  fact,  that  I  who  am  going  to  die  for  you,  am 
also  going  to  heaven  ;  not  to  be  absorbed  with  the  joys  that 
are  there,  but  to  spend  the  next  eighteen  centuries  in  getting 
ready  a  place  for  you.  Now  this  I  tell  you,  that  in  me  ye 
may  have  jjeace.  I  am  not  to  leave  you  for  ever,  but  "  I 
will  come  again,  and  receive  you  unto  myself."  Blessed 
hope !  I  do  not  leave  you  orphans ;  I  do  not  abandon  you  to 
the  bosom  of  a  cold  and  an  unsympathizing  Avorld ;  you  will 
have  tribulation  for  a  season,  you  will  be  tossed  in  a  stormy 
and  tempestuous  passage ;  but  I  will  come  in  the  fourth 
watch,  I  Avill  say  to  the  rude  waves  and  to  the  wild  winds, 
"  Peace,  be  still ; "  and  this  promise  I  have  made  to  you, 
that  in  me  ye  may  haVe  peace. 

Then  again,  he  tells  them,  "  I  am  the  way,  and  the  truth, 
and  the  life ;  no  man  cometh  unto  the  Father,  but  by  me." 
I  am  the  way  by  which  you  climb  to  heaven  ;  I  am  the 
truth,  or  the  lamp  that  shines  upon  the  pilgrims,  as  they 
tread  that  upward  Avay ;  and  I  am  the  life,  inspiring  them 
with  energy  to  tread  it.  And  if  I  be  the  way  by  which  you 
walk,  the  truth  that  guides  you,  the  life  that  inspires  you, 
and  there  be  no  other  way  of  coming  to  heaven  but  by  me, 
then  be  not  troubled ;  I  tell  you  this,  that  in  me,  the  way, 
the  truth,  and  the  life,  ye  may  have  peace.  Philip  said, 
"  Show  us  tlie  Father,  and  it  sutHceth  us."  Jesus  said,  "He 
that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father."  I  am  the  bright- 
ness of  his  glory ;  all  that  can  be  seen  of  God,  all  that  can 
be  known  of  God,  is  to  be  seen  and  known  in  me.  The 
page  of  nature  is  marred,  mutilated,  torn  ;  sin  has  stained 
it,  and  the  rude  passions  of  mankind  have  torn  it.  But  my 
face,  once  so  marred,  now  radiant  with  the  glory  into  which 


joiix  xvr.  299 

I  have  entered,  is  to  my  -Father  what  ihc  dial-plate  i.s  to  the 
movements  within  ;  you  can  see  in  my  tears  the  compassion 
of  a  God;  you  can  see  in  my  miracles  the  beneficence  of 
God  ;  you  can  see  in  all  I  say  the  mind  of  God  ;  you  can 
see  in  all  I  have  suffered  the  love  of  God.  "  He  that  hath 
seen  me,"  —  on  the  cross,  in  Gethsemane,  on  the  Mount  of 
Olives,  in  the  manger,  —  "  hath  seen  the  Father  !  "  And 
this  I  speak  unto  you,  that  in  me  ye  may  have  peace.  And 
again  he  says,  "  Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in  my  name  I  will 
do  it,  that  the  Father  may  be  glorified  in  the  Son."  — 
"  Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in  my  name."  He  does  not  say, 
first  ascertain  that  God  means  to  give  what  you  ask ;  first 
ascertain  wdiether  it  will  be  agreeable  to  God's  mind  to  give 
what  you  feel  you  need  :  no  such  thing ;  but,  "  Whatsoever 
ye  shall  ask."  I  do  not  believe  in  such  a  thing  as  a  fervent 
prayer  offered  in  the  name  of  Jesus  unanswered,  either  for 
ourselves  or  for  others.  True,  you  may  not  see  the  answer, 
you  may  not  hear  the  echo  of  that  answer  ;  you  may  not  be 
able  to  trace  it  out  in  those  you  have  prayed  for,  or  in  your- 
self :  but  rest  assured  God  has  answered  the  prayer,  not  in 
the  way  that  you  expect,  not  in  the  way  that  you  would  wish, 
nor  at  the  time  that  you  have  fixed,  but  in  the  way  God  sees 
to  be  best  — -  in  the  measure  that  he  knows  to  be  for  his 
gloiy,  paid  at  the  time  when  you  Avill  feel  the  blessing,  and 
give  glory  to  Him  that  bestows  it.  "We  are,  therefore,  to 
ask  whatsoever  we  feel  that  we  want.  Are  you  sick  ?  — 
ask  for  health.  Are  you  in  danger?  —  pray  to  God  for 
safety.  Are  you  poor  ?  —  pray  to  God  that  he  would  give 
you  a  little  more  of  this  world's  good  things.  Why  should 
you  not  ?  Do  not  say,  money  is  a  bad  thing  :  it  is  not  so  ; 
it  is  a  most  excellent  thing.  It  is  not  the  thing,  it  is  not  the 
best  thing,  it  is  not  to  be  looked  to  as  if  it  were  the  chief 
thing ;  but  in  its  place,  and  in  the  hand  of  an  enlightened 
and  .1  sanctified  man,  it  represents  ten  thousand  temporal 
blessings  that  man  must  appreciate  whilst  he  contiiiues  to 


300  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

live  :  and,  therefore,  ask  these  things.  Does  a  child  hesitate 
to  ask  what  it  feels  it  needs  ?  It  sometimes  asks  things  that 
would  injure  it,  if  they  were  given.  It  may  ask  tlie  knife 
ihat  would  cut  it  if  it  were  to  receive  it.  The  parent  judges; 
but  the  child,  with  all  the  confiding  sympathy  that  a  child, 
however  young,  has  to  a  parent,  asks  just  what  it  wants. 
"  If  ye,  bting  evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your 
children,  how  much  more  will  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven 
give  good  things  unto  them  that  ask  him  ?  " 

"  These  things,  therefore,  have  I  spoken  unto  you,  that  in 
me  ye  might  have  peace." 

Again  he  says, "  And  when  I  go  away  from  you,  I  will 
pray  the  Father,  and  he  will  give  you  another  Comforter, 
even  the  Spirit  of  truth,  whom  the  world  cannot  receive." 
He  reveals  what  this  Comforter  is  to  do.  "  He  shall  teach 
you  all  things  —  bring  all  things  to  your  remembrance, 
whatsoever  I  have  said  unto  you."  Now,  says  the  Saviour, 
I  have  spoken  to  you,  and  told  you  this  blessed  promise,  that 
in  me  ye  may  have  peace.  Do  not  be  disturbed  because  I 
leave  you  ;  I  am  going  to  send  down  to  you  One  who  will  take 
my  place  until  I  return  and  take  possession  of  all  things.  And 
this  Comforter  that  I  will  send  to  you  will  be  another  Com- 
forter. I  have  been  one,  and  he  will  be  another  Comforter. 
And  what  will  he  do  ?  "  He  will,"  first  of  al],  "  teach  you 
all  things."  Not  all  things  in  the  sense  that  he  will  teach 
you  philosophy,  mathematics,  science,  and  astronomy  ;  but 
that  he  will  teach  you  all  the  things,  as  it  is  in  the  original, 
that  I  have  been  speaking  about.  "  And  he  will  bring  all 
things  to  your  remembrance,  whatsoever  I  have  said  unto 
you."  I  have  spoken  these  things  to  you,  that  in  me  ye  may 
have  peace.  But  not  only  will  your  Bible  contain  them,  but 
your  memory  will  need  to  retain  them.  Well,  this  blessed 
Comforter,  who  is  to  take  my  place  during  my  temporaiy 
absence,  will  improve  your  memory  as  well  as  enlighten 
your  mind  and  sanctify  your  heart.     When  you  hear  one 


JOHN    XVI.  301 

say,  "  I  have  a  bad  memory,  and  cannot  recollect  spiritual 
things  ;  "  say,  there  is  a  Gi'eat  Improver  of  the  memory,  — 
the  Holy  Spirit.  And  Christ  has  told  us  of  him,  that  in 
him  who  has  made  the  promise  you  may  have  peace. 

And  then  he  concludes  the  chapter  with  his  legacy, — 
"  Peace  I  leave  you  ;  my  peace  I  give  unto  you ;  not  as  the 
world  giveth,  give  I  unto  you.  Let  not  your  heart  bo  troub- 
led, neither  let  it  be  afraid."  And  all  this  he  says,  I  have 
spoken  unto  you,  that  in  me  ye  might  have  peace. 

The  next  chapter  is  just  a  continuation  or  thread  of  the 
same  bright  and  sparkling  pearls.  I  cannot  enter  upon  all, 
but  I  may  touch  on  one,  two,  or  three.  He  says,  "  I  am  the 
vine,  ye  are  the  branches ;  every  branch  in  me  that  beareth 
fruit,  he  purgeth  it,  that  it  may  bring  forth  more  fruit ; "  and 
therefore  if  you  are  not  so  fertile  as  you  ought  to  be  in  all 
the  fruits,  tlie  fragrant  fruits,  of  the  Spirit,  do  not  let  that 
trouble  you  ;  be  distressed  that  you  are  not  more  fruitful, 
but  do  not  despair,  for  I  will  come  and  purge,  or  cleanse,  or 
prune,  the  branch :  and  this  I  speak  to  you,  that  in  me  ye 
may  have  peace.  And  again,  he  tells  them,  "  These  things 
I  have  spoken  to  you,  that  my  joy  might  remain  in  you  ;  " 
—  "For  the  joy  set  before  him  he  endured  the  cross;"  — 
"  and  that  your  joy  may  be  full."  And  this  "  I  speak  to  you, 
that  in  me  ye  may  have  peace."  ''  I  call  you  not  servants, 
but  I  have  called  you  friends  ! "  What  a  blessed  relation- 
ship !  —  Christ  the  Friend  that  sticketh  closer  than  a  brother ; 
and  the  lowliest  orphan,  and  the  poorest  widow,  recognized 
in  heaven  as  a  friend  of  Christ.  The  grandeur  of  your  re- 
lationship, the  dignity  of  your  status,  the  nobility  of  which 
you  have  the  patent,  are  declared  in  these  verses,  and  you 
are  told  of  them,  that  in  me  ye  may  have  peace. 

And  as  to  the  persecutions  you  will  meet  with  from  the 
world,  he  says,  "  Marvel  not  if  the  world  hate  you  ; "  do  not 
be  surprised  at  it ;  "  if  ye  were  of  the  world,  the  world 
would  love  its  own  ;  but  because  ye  are  not  of  the  world,  but 

26 


302  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

I  have  chosen  you  out  of  the  world,  therefore  the  world 
hateth  you."  And  do  you  grieve  that  I  am  going  away  ? 
Do  not  grieve ;  it  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go  away. 
You  do  not  think  so ;  you  are  arguing  among  yourselves, 
"  The  pillar  against  which  we  have  leaned  will  be  struck 
down,  the  lamp  that  has  shone  upon  our  path  will  be  extin- 
guished. Our  Teacher,  our  Master,  our  Friend,  our  Sav- 
iour, "  is  about  to  forsake  us."  Do  not  be  grieved  ;  all  this 
is  most  expedient.  It  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go  away ; 
I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you.  I  go  to  send  the  Com- 
forter down  to  you.  I  go  to  that  lofty  point  or  jiosition  from 
which  I  can  see  all  things  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  and  take 
the  management  of  all  that  relates  to  you  and  concerns  you. 
And  besides,  at  present,  I  am  but  the  lamp  of  a  nation ; 
raised  to  heaven  I  shall  be  the  sun  in  the  sky.  Visible 
among  you,  the  apostles,  I  am  but  a  tiny  spring  in  Palestine  ; 
raised  to  heaven,  I  am  the  fountain  of  the  wide  world  opened 
for  sin  and  for  all  uncleanness  among  all.  And  all  this  I 
speak  unto  you,  that  in  me  ye  may  have  peace. 

"  Hitherto  ye  have  asked  nothing ;  ask,  and  ye  shall  re- 
ceive." And  this  I  have  spoken  to  you,  that  in  me  ye  might 
have  peace. 

The  whole  of  the  three  chapters,  therefore,  consist  of  a 
series  of  grounds,  or  reasons,  why  the  Christian  should  have 
and  enjoy  everlasting  peace  in  Christ.  Now  the  inference 
I  draw  from  this  is,  first,  the  great  importance  of  acquaint- 
ance with  the  words  of  Christ  —  "  Sanctify  them  through 
thy  truth  :  "  that  is,  in  contact  with  thy  truth  ;  and  the  larger 
the  surface  of  truth  with  which  the  believer  is  in  contact,  the 
more  he  will  be  sanctified  by  God  the  Spirit.  The  Spirit 
regenerates  the  heart,  sanctifies  the  nature ;  not  without 
truth,  not  in  spite  of  truth,  but  by  the  instrumentality  of  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  God's  holy  word.  So  in  the  same  manner 
peace  — '  that  peace  that  makes  the  heart  beat  calm  amidst  a 
convulsed  world ;  that  peace  that  preserves  the  countenance 


JOHN  XVI.  303 

unruffled  when  the  mountains  are  carried  into  the  midst  of 
the  sea ;  that  peace  that  makes  the  Christian  so  full  of  self- 
possession  and  indomitable  quiet  in  a  world  agitated,  alarmed, 
afraid,  whilst  it  is  the  gift  of  God  in  Christ,  is  given  through 
the  knowledge  of  the  words  of  Christ ;  for,  "  these  words 
have  I  spoken  unto  you,  that  in  me  ye  may  have  peace." 
Therefore  to  study,  to  know,  to  recollect,  to  feel,  to  have  im- 
pressed upon  the  conscience,  God's  word,  is  to  have  tlie  me- 
dium of  our  sanctification  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  element 
of  the  peace  that  passeth  understanding  on  the  other  hand. 
In  the  second  place,  we  gather  from  all  this  an  evidence,  in- 
direct it  may  be,  but  no  less  conclusive  on  that  account,  that 
Christ  is  God.  Who  said  there  is  no  peace  in  the  height 
nor  in  the  depth ;  no  peace  in  splendid  pi'omise  nor  in  glo- 
rious type  ;  in  church  or  in  sacrament,  in  castle,  in  battlement, 
and  bulwark,  or  in  victory,  or  in  national  power  —  who  said 
so  ?  One  that  knew  the  emptiness  of  all.  And  where  did 
he  say  you  will  have  peace  ?  Peace  in  him.  Can  he  be 
only  man  to  whom  every  human  being  is  to  look ;  in  whose 
heart  of  hearts  every  human  being  is  to  have  peace  ?  Can 
he  be  a  mere  creature  who  is  to  fill  all  the  cisterns  of  hu- 
manity, and  to  give  peace  to  all  the  weaxy  troubled  hearts 
that  beat  in  this  weary  and  troubled  world  ?  No,  no  :  if  he 
were  man,  I  could  not  believe  that  text  to  be  true ;  but,  be- 
cause he  is  God,  I  know  that  he  is  as  able  as  he  is  willing  to 
give  the  peace  that  j^asseth  understanding  to  all  that  stand 
in  need  of  it. 

We  see  here  also  in  the  next  place,  that  Christianity  by 
the  grace  of  God  in  this  dispensation  is  not  meant  to  alter 
the  outer  world.  Whilst  the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit  lasts, 
Christians  will  be  in  the  world,  —  not  of  the  world,  —  and  a 
Christian's  peace  will  be  enjoyed  in  spite  of  the  world,  not 
derived  from,  or  felt  in  consequence  of,  the  world.  "  In  the 
world  ye  shall  have  tribulation."  Now,  that  is  just  as  true 
as  that,  "  In  me  ye  shall  have  peace  ; "  I  say  it  is  just  as 


304  SCRIPTURE    RKADIXGS. 

much  the  ordinance  of  God  that  you  shall  have  tribulation 
in  the  world,  as  it  is  the  ordinance  of  God  that  you  shall 
have  peace  in  Christ.  It  is  because  it  is  the  ordinance  and 
the  will  of  God,  that  the  apostle  Peter  says,  in  one  of  his 
Epistles,  Think  it  no  strange  thing  that  such  trials  or  afflic- 
tions have  happened  to  you.  It  is  not  a  strange  thing  ;  it  is 
part  and  parcel  of  the  economy  under  which  you  live ;  it  is 
one  of  the  great  laws  of  God's  moral  government.  It  is 
just  as  much  a  law  of  Heaven  that  you  shall  have  tribulation 
inner  or  outer  in  the  world,  as  it  is  a  law  of  the  same  Divine 
economy  that  you  shall  have  peace  in  Christ ;  just  as  in  the 
fourth  commandment  it  is  as  much  a  law  of  God  that  "  Six 
days  shalt  thou  labor,"  as  it  is  a  law  of  God  that  one  day  in 
seven  shall  you  rest.  The  working  man  upon  the  working 
day  is  as  much  a  Divine  Institution  as  the  worshipping  man 
upon  the  worshipping  day ;  and  he  that  tries  to  repeal  the 
one  or  the  other  breaks  in  upon  the  existing  comfort  of  man 
and  the  institution  of  God.  So  here,  tribulation  in  the 
world,  war  with  nations,  war  at  home  in  your  country,  in 
your  parish,  in  your  family  ;  or  if  not  there,  in  your  own 
hearts,  your  passions,  your  prejudices ;  losses,  crosses,  be- 
reavements, disappointments,  vexations,  ten  thousand  ills  and 
aches,  these  the  poet  said,  and  he  only  unfolded  the  ordinance 
of  God  in  his  grand  language  when  he  said  so,  these  are  "  ills 
and  aches  that  flesh  is  heir  to  ;  "  that  is  to  say,"  In  the  world 
ye  shall  have  tribulation  : "  the  original  of  Shakspeare's  sen- 
timent. "  In  me  ye  shall  have  peace  : "  that  is  the  expres- 
sion of  Christ's  divine  command.  It  is  not  implied  here 
that  the  Christian  should  not  feel  this  tribulation.  The 
grace  of  Christ  in  a  Christian's  heart  is  not  the  extinction  of 
human  sensibility,  but  the  extinction  of  cowardice  and  cow- 
ardly fear.  In  the  world  ye  shall  not  only  have  tribulation, 
but  you  must  feel  it.  If  you  did  not  feel  it,  you  would  not 
be  human ;  if  you  did  not  triumph  over  it,  because  in  Christ 
you  have  peace,  you  would  not  be  Christians.     To  weep  and 


JOHN  xvr.  305 

to  feel  pain  is  the  mark  of  a  man.  We  are  not  made  of 
cast-iron,  nor  are  we  chiselled  from  the  granite  rock.  We 
have  nerves,  instinct  with  sensibility  ;  and  we  must  feel. 
And  no  man  rises  to  a  loftier  level  when  he  gets  beyond  the 
range  of  feeling,  and  approximates  to  the  insensibility  of  the 
Stoic.  But  though  we  feel  the  tribulation  that  the  world 
afflicts  us  withal,  we  are  to  enjoy  in  spite  of  it,  and  triumjih- 
ant  over  it,  the  peace  that  passeth  understanding  that  is  to  be 
found  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  And  therefore,  when  you 
become  a  Christian,  and  have  God's  grace  and  Christ's  peace 
in  your  heart,  do  not  expect  the  world  will  cease  to  be 
troublesome ;  sickness  does  not  keep  aloof  from  you  any 
more  than  from  atheists  and  infidels.  You  lose  your  wives, 
your  husbands,  your  children,  your  fathei's,  your  mothers, 
just  the  same  as  other  people.  The  outward  world  is  the 
same  to  you  as  it  is  to  the  heathen  or  the  Mahometan, 
or  the  Jew ;  but  you  have,  in  your  own  inner  world,  a 
compensatory  life  that  makes  you  triumph  over  the  world  ; 
and  what  overwhelms  the  man  of  the  world  till  he  rushes 
to  commit  suicide,  only  enables  you  to  burst  into  the  tri- 
umphant Christian  song,  "  Though  the  fig-tree  shall  not  blos- 
som, neither  shall  fruit  be  in  the  vines  ;  though  the  labor 
of  the  olive  shall  fail,  and  the  fields  shall  yield  no  meat; 
though  the  flock  shall  be  cut  off  from  the  fold,  and  there 
shall  be  no  herd  in  the  stalls,  yet  I  will  joy  in  the  Lord,  I 
will  joy  in  the  God  of  my  salvation."  For  these  things  hath 
he  spoken  unto  me  that  his  joy  may  be  in  me,  and  that  my 
joy  may  be  full ;  and  while  in  the  world  I  shall  have  trib- 
ulation, in  Christ  my  Saviour  I  shall  have  perfect  peace. 


NoTR.  —  ( Vcr.  8.)  These  three  words,  dfiapria,  <)iKaLoavvii,  Kplaic,  com- 
prehend the  three  great  steps  of  advance  in  spiritual  truth  among  men. 
Of  itself  the  world  does  not  know  what  sin  is,  what  righteousness  is, 
what  judgment  is  ;  nor  can  either  of  these  be  revealed  to  any  man,  cx- 
2G* 


306  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

cept  by  the  Spirit  of  God  working  within  liim.  Each  man's  conscience 
on  each  of  these  ;  —  some  consciousness  of  guilt,  some  sense  of  right, 
some  power  of  judgment  of  what  is  transitory  and  worthless  ;  but  all 
these  are  unreal  and  unpractical,  till  the  i?uyxoc  of  the  Spirit  has 
■wrought  in  him.     (See  Stier,  v.  3G0.) 

(Ver.  9.)  And  the  great  opening  of  sin  to  the  world  is  to  show  thera 
that  its  root  and  essence  is  unbelief  in  Christ  as  the  Son  of  God.  Un- 
belief:  for  mankind,  being  alien  from  God  by  nature,  the  first  step  to- 
wards their  recovery  must  be  to  lay  hold  on  that  only  safety  which  he 
has  provided  for  them ;  and  that  laying  hold  is  faith,  and  the  not 
doing  it,  when  revealed  and  placed  before  them,  is  sin.  Beforetime  it 
was  also  unbelief:  "  The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart,  There  is  no  God  ;  " 
but  now,  —  for  we  can  only  believe  as  God  has  revealed  himself,  —  it 
is  unbelief  in  Christ  the  Son  of  God ;  the  ov  OeIete  epxeadai  npog  jie. 
See  this  pointedly  asserted,  1  John  v.  10-12.  Remember,  this  unbe- 
lief is  not  a  want  of  historical  faith,  but  unbelief  in  its  very  root ;  which, 
whenever  the  Spirit  has  "opened  his  commission,"  by  the  planting  of 
the  visible  Church,  is  the  condemning  sin  of  the  world. —  Alford. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  INTEKCESSOR. JESUS  IS  GOD.  LATENT  PROOFS  OF  HIS  DEITY. 

PRE-EXISTENCE  OF  CHRIST. IN  THE  WORLD  AND  OUT  OF  IT. 

god's  WORD  IS    TRUTH.  —  EVIDENCE    OF    GEOLOGY. "FATHER,! 

WILL." EMPLOYMENT  OP  THE  BLESSED. 

Perhaps  it  may  be  strictly  and  literally  said,  this  is  the 
sublimest  and  the  most  instructive  chapter  in  all  the  four 
Gospels.  It  is  not  so  much  a  prayer  uttered  upon  earth  for 
those  who  were  to  continue  on  it,  but  a  specimen  of  Christ's 
intercession  carried  on  within  the  veil  in  the  midst  of  heaven 
for  all  that  believe  in  his  name,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world. 
On  the  earth  he  died  for  us  as  an  atonement ;  at  the  Father's 
right  hand  he  intercedes  for  us  as  our  High-priest.  What 
he  purchased  by  his  blood  below,  he  makes  good  by  his  in- 
tercession above.  If  he  had  not  died  for  us,  we  should  have 
had  no  right  to  heaven ;  if  he  did  not  intercede  for  us,  we 
should  never  embrace  that  right  to  heaven.  But  because  he 
died  we  are  entitled  to  heaven  ;  because  he  lives  for  us  we 
shall  be  kept  from  falling,  and  presented  faultless  before  his 
presence  in  glory  with  exceeding  joy. 

"  These  words  spake  Jesus,  and  lifted  up  his  eyes  to 
heaven,"  —  that  is,  to  the  place  where  God  is ;  not  the  geo- 
graphical relation  above,  but  the  moral  relation  and  the  moral 
aspect,  looking  upward  to  the  place  v/here  God's  throne  im- 
mediately is,  —  "  Glorify  thy  Son,  that  thy  Son  may  glorify 
thee."  No  creature  could  so  pray  — "  Glorify  me."  A 
creature  needs  to  be  humbled,  to  be  laid  low ;  but  never, 
except  in  the  height  of  pride,  and  arrogance,  and  ambition, 

(307) 


308  -         SCRIPTURE    RKADIXGS. 

can  a  creature  pray  that  it  may  be  glorified.  The  very  fact 
that  Jesus  said,  "  Glorify  me,"  indirectly  teaches  the  other 
fact  which  we  know  to  be  true,  that  Jesus  was  God  over  all. 
He  says,  "  As  thou  hast  given  him  power  over  all  flesh  " 
—  it  is  literally,  jiiriscliction,  official  government  —  "  that 
he  should  give  eternal  life  to  as  many  as  thou  hast  given 
him."  Now,  could  that  be  said  of  a  creature  ?  I  want 
particularly  to  notice  these  points ;  because  the  Socinian 
quotes  some  broad  assertions  that  are  contained  in  the  pages 
of  Scripture,  which  are  most  true,  namely,  that  Jesus  was 
man ;  we  are  apt  to  quote  in  retaliation  or  reply  certain 
texts,  which  as  unequivocally  assert  that  he  was  God.  But 
a  far  more  striking  proof  that  Christ  is  God,  is  that  latent 
evidence  that  runs  through  all  the  chapters  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament, breaks  out  at  intervals  where  the  topic  is  not  in  im- 
mediate discussion,  and  implies  that  he  is  God  rather  than 
broadly  and  distinctly  asserts  it.  Take  this  one  passage, 
"Thou  hast  given  him  power  (or  jurisdiction)  over  all  flesh; 
that  he  should  give  eternal  life  to  as  many  as  thou  hast 
given  him,"  Could  this  be  said  of  a  creature  ?  Could  an 
apostle,  could  an  evangelist,  assume  to  give  eternal  life? 
Not  one.  And  therefore  he  that  claimed  the  prerogative  of 
giving  life,  however  limited  the  recipients  of  the  gift  may  be, 
was  none  less  than  God  over  all,  blessed  for  evermore.  Nor 
is  the  next  text  less  unequivocal  proof.  "  This  is  life  eternal, 
that  they  might  know  thee  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus 
Christ,  whom  thou  hast  sent."  To  say  it  is  eternal  life  to 
know  God  and  the  apostle  Paul  would  be  absurd ;  or,  eternal 
life  to  know  thee  the  only  living  and  true  God,  and  the 
evangelists  or  John  the  Baptist.  "We  recoil  from  it;  the 
very  statement  refutes  itself.  The  fact,  therefore,  that  eternal 
life  is  inseparably  connected  with  the  knowledge  of  God, 
and  of  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  is"  evidence  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
not  a  mere  man,  but  that  he  is,  what  he  assumes  to  be,  the 
brightness  of  the  glory  of  the  Father ;  and  that  as  "  ye  have 


.ions  xvn.  309 

believed  in  God,"  it  is  the  necessary  duty  that  instantly  fol- 
lows, to  "  believe  also  in  me." 

He  says  in  the  next  verse,  "  I  have  glorified  thee  on  the 
earth."  Can  we  say  so  ?  Alas !  every  day's  confession 
musf  be,  "  We  have  grieved  thee  ;  we  have  dishonored  thee  ; 
we  have  sinned  against  thee."  Then  who  is  this  who  could 
say  at  the  close  of  his  biography,  "  I  have  glorified  thee  ?  " 
AVho  is  this  that  could  say,  "  I  have  finished  the  work  which 
thou  gavest  me  to  do  ?  "  Why,  we  are  constrained  to  say, 
"  We  have  left  unfinished,  or  undone,  the  things  we  ought  to 
have  done ;  "  but  he  could  say,  in  the  language  of  absolute 
truth,  "  I  have  finished  the  work  -which  thou  gavest  me  to 
do."  "  And  now,  O  Father,  glorify  thou  me  with  thine  own 
self,"  —  what  wonderful  language!  —  "with  the  glory  which 
I  had  with  thee  before  the  world  was."  I  will  not  here 
assert,  though  I  might,  that  this  text  proves  that  Christ  was 
God ;  but  what  else  can  we  understand  by  such  words  as 
these,  "  The  glory  which  I  had  with  thee  before  the  world 
was  created  ?  "  I  have  no  doubt  that  this  orb,  this  round 
ball  on  which  we  tread,  whilst  its  present  configuration,  fur- 
niture, arrangement,  is  about  six  thousand  years  old,  as  an 
orb  existed  perhaps  hundreds  of  thousands  of  years  ago. 
Well  then,  if  that  be  true,  Christ  was  with  God  before  this 
earth  was  created.  I  do  not  say  this  proves  his  Deity,  but 
it  is  a  very  great  step  towards  it  —  it  proves  his  preexist- 
ence  ;  and  if  he  was  more  than  man,  we  naturally  ask  the 
Unitarian,  what  was  he  ?  Not  an  angel,  not  an  archangel. 
You  will  find  that  there  is  no  consistency  anywhere  but  in 
the  conclusion  that  he  was  God,  and  in  the  conclusion  that  he 
became  also  man. 

"  I  have  manifested  thy  name  unto  the  men  which  thou 
gavest  me  out  of  the  world."  Here  is  Christ's  work  —  de- 
claring God  as  the  Father ;  here  is  God's  gift,  that  all  be- 
lievers are  given  to  him  out  of  the  world.  "  Thine  they 
were;  and  thou  gavest  them  me  ;  and  they  have  kept  thy 


310  SCRirXURE    READINGS. 

word."  "  I  have  given  unto  them  the  ^yord3  which  thou 
gavest  me ;  and  they  have  received  them."  And  then  he 
prays  for  them.  "  I  pray  for  them ;  I  pray  not  for  the 
world."  I  do  not  think  that  the  construction  that  some  very 
severe  Calvinists  put  upon  this  is  proper.  They  say  that  we 
have  nothing  to  do  with  the  world  —  that  Christ  never 
prayed  for  it ;  I  think,  whether  this  be  true  or  false,  this 
text  does  not  prove  it.  This  is  his  intercessory  prayer  within 
the  veil ;  it  is-as  the  Head  of  all  believers  that  he  is  speak- 
ing, and  therefore  only  of  his  own  people ;  he  is  praying 
here  only  for  his  own  people,  and  not  for  the  world.  But 
still,  in  the  world  are  thousands  who  are  not  yet  Christians, 
except  in  the  purposes  of  God;  and  by  and  by  they  will 
emerge  from  the  world,  and  believe  the  gospel,  and  profess 
that  truth  which  now  they  are  ignorant  of.  "  I  pray  for 
them ;  I  pray  not  for  the  world,"  —  that  is,  now,  in  this  in- 
tercessory prayer  —  "  but  for  them  whom  thou  hast  given 
me ;  for  they  are  thine."  But  what  is  meant  by  the  tenth 
verse  —  "  All  mine  are  thine  ?  "  Well,  a  creature  could 
say  that ;  "  all  that  I  have  is  thine."  But  what  follows  ? 
"  And  thine  are  mine  ; "  no  creature  could  say  this  :  "  and  I 
am  glorified  in  them,"  He  then  says,  "  I  am  no  more  in  the 
world  "  —  as  he  had  told  them  before  —  "  I  go  to  the  Father." 
But  then  he  prays  for  those  left  behind.  "  Holy  Father  ;  " 
how  beautiful  is  that  phrase  !  "  Father  ; "  therefore  we  are 
the  sons  of  God.  "  Holy  Father  ;  "  sinners  as  we  are,  now 
become  sons,  it  is  yet  consistent  with  thy  holiness  that  we 
should  be  so ;  "  keep  through  tliine  own  name  those  whom 
thou  hast  "given  me,  that  they  may  be  one,  as  we  are.  While 
I  was  with  them  in  the  world  I  kept  them  in  thy  name ;  and 
now  I  come  to  thee ;  and  these  things  I  speak  in  the  world, 
that  they  might  have  my  joy  fulfilled  in  themselves."  He- 
then  says,  "  I  pray  not  that  thou  shouldest  take  them  out  of 
the  world,  but  that  thou  shouldest  keep  them  fi'om  the  evil." 
That  is  the  prayer  that  is  applicable  to  every  true  Christian. 


JOHN    XVII.  311 

Christ  does  not  pvay  that  we  may  be  taken  out  of  the  world ; 
and  every  attempt  to  take  ourselves  out  of  the  world  is 
either  monkish  or  suicidal ;  that  is,  unscriptural  and  wrong. 
Christ's  prayer  is,  that  Christians  while  in  the  world  may  be 
kept  from  its  evil,  and  be  the  lights  of  the  world  ;  that 
others,  seeing  their  good  works,  may  glorify  their  Fatlier 
who  is  in  heaven.  We  never  ought  to  forget  that  our  posi- 
tion is  assigned  us  in  providence ;  and  that  we  are  not  at 
liberty  to  leave  that  position  any  more  than  the  soldier  or 
sentinel  is  to  leave  the  post  that  is  assigned  him  ;  but  in  it, 
through  God's  strength,  we  are  to  do  the  duties  that  devolve 
upon  us ;  and  there,  not  elsewhere,  to  glorify  our  Father  in 
heaven.  And  this  verse  seems  to  be  utterly  fatal  to  all  con- 
ventual and  monkish  institutions.  "I  pray  not  that  thou 
shouldest  take  them  out  of  the  world."  Ask  a  monk  what 
explains  his  position.  His  answer  will  be,  "  I  was  afraid  of 
the  world's  sin  ;  and  therefore  I  came  out  of  it,  that  I  might 
worship  God  as  I  could  desire ; "  that  is  his  explanation  of  it. 
But  is  that  compatible  with  our  Lord's  prayer  —  "I  pray 
not  that  thou  shouldest  take  them  out  of  the  world  ?  "  Sup- 
posing that  a  convent  is  extra-mundane,  out  of  the  world, 
which  is  a  very  questionable  thing,  then  to  run  out  of  the 
world  to  escape  from  the  trials  of  the  world,  is  to  traverse 
and  to  contradict  the  very  words  of  our  Lord,  that  in  the 
world  we  should  remain,  that  we  may  be  the  lights,  the 
blessings,  and  the  benefactors  of  the  world.  Suppose  that 
everybody  were  to  have  the  monkish  desire,  what  would  be 
the  result  ?  That  all  the  salt  of  the  earth  would  leave  it, 
and  it  would  go  to  corruption ;  that  all  the  lights  of  the 
world  would  be  quenched,  and  it  would  be  consigned  to 
darkness.  It  does  seem  to  me,  that  the  better  a  man  is,  the 
more  Christian  a  lady  is,  the  more  need  the  world  has  of 
them,  not  the  more  imperative  it  is  upon  him  or  her  to  go 
out  of  the  world.  If  you  be  Christians,  you  are  just  the 
very  people  that  the  world  wants  ;  and  to  go  out  of  it  is  to 


312  SCRirXURK    READINGS. 

do  what  God  forbids.  And  if  you  be  not  Christians,  to  go 
into  a  convent  to  get  Christianity  is  much  worse,  you  may 
depend  upon  it,  than  continuing  where  you  are.  Where 
you  are  you  may  attain  it,  whitlier  you  will  go  you  have  no 
chance  of  getting  it  at  all.  It  seems,  therefore,  obvious  that 
the  true  duty  of  a  Christian  is  to  remain  where  Providence 
has  placed  him.  If  you  are  a  soldier,  you  can  serve  God 
as  a  soldier  ;  if  you  be  a  sailor,  you  can  serve  him  as  a 
sailor ;  if  you  be  a  member  of  parliament  you  can  serve 
God  there  ;  if  you  be  a  tradesman,  or  a  merchant,  or  a  law- 
yer, or  a  physician,  you  can  serve  God  thus.  And  you  will 
find  it  invariably  true,  that  the  man  that  cannot  serve  God 
just  where  he  is,  never  would  serve  him  better  if  he  wex-e 
where  he  would  be.  And  very  often,  the  wish  to  change 
our  place  in  order  to  be  religious,  as  it  is  called,  is  simply  a 
lazy  wish  to  get  out  of  difficulties  that  we  will  not  manfully 
grapple  with,  and  to  get  into  smoother  water,  where  we  think 
we  shall  have  less  trouble,  under  the  pretence  that  we  shall 
be  more  religious.  The  prayer  is,  "  Holy  Father,  keep 
through  thine  own  name  those  that  thou  hast  given  me. 
I  do  not  pray  that  thou  wouldest  take  them  out  of  the  world  ; 
but  I  pray  that  thou  wouldest  keep  them  from  its  evil,"  what- 
ever that  evil  is,  the  evil  of  the  world. 

He  prays,  in  the  next  place,  in  words  that  show  the  pro- 
cess through  which  a  Christian  is  sanctified,  "  Sanctify  them 
through  thy  truth."  The  Holy  Spirit  is  the  author  of  sancti- 
fication.  God's  truth  is  the  medium  of  it.  And  therefore 
the  means  of  sanctification  is  contact  and  acquaintance  with 
God's  truth  ;  the  reading  of  his  word,  the  hearing  of  it 
preached,  —  that  is  the  means  of  sanctification.  "  Thy  word 
is  truth."  What  a  blessed  thought !  God's  word  is  truth. 
The  evidence  that  this  book  is  the  inspiration  of  God  is 
greater,  more  varied,  more  conclusive,  than  the  evidence  for 
any  one  fact  that  ever  occurred  in  the  world.  It  is  much 
easier  —  it  is  not  an   extravagant  statement,  but  a  sober 


JOHN  XVII.  313 

truth  —  it  is  much  easier,  as  Archbishop  Whatcley  has  done 
in  his  own  powerful  and  conclusive  manner,  to  prove  that 
no  such  personage  as  Napoleon  or  Shakspeare  ever  ex- 
isted, than  it  is  to  prove  that  this  book  is  not  the  Book 
of  God. 

You  will  always  find  that  the  Bible  is  ahead  of  every 
thing.  In  the  last  century,  when  some  excavations  were 
made  in  the  pyramids,  infidels  leaped  to  the  conclusion,  that 
there  was  a  contradiction  between  history  and  the  Bible. 
A  little  patience  showed  that  there  was  not  only  perfect  har- 
mony, but  that  the  interior  contents  of  the  pyramids  of  Pha- 
raoh were  the  most  resplendent  proofs  of  the  inspiration  of 
Moses.  And  so  the  notion  was  taken  up  by  some  people 
from  the  discovery  of  certain  contents  of  the  globe  —  petri- 
factions and  animals  evidently  of  another  dynasty  —  that 
the  Mosaic  account  was  wrong.  But  the  more  geologists 
have  studied  their  science,  and  the  more  soberly  we  have 
compared  God's  written  page  with  the  earth's  stony  and 
geological  page,  the  more  conclusive  has  been  the  evidence 
that  the  Bible  is  perfectly  true.  And  so  with  every  fact. 
The  excavations  made  by  Layard  in  Nineveh  have  cast  light 
upon  the  sacred  Volume,  upon  its  age,  upon  its  authenticity, 
its  genuineness,  and  the  accuracy  of  its  historic  statements. 
Nothing  seems  more  striking  than  this,  that  a  buried  capi- 
tal should  rise  from  its  grave,  and  proclaim,  trumpet- 
tongued,  "  O  God,  thy  word  is  truth."  And  we  may  say, 
"  If  they  believe  not  Moses  and  the  prophets,  neither  will 
they  believe  if  a  city  should  rise  from  the  dead  and  say 
God's  word  is  truth." 

"  Father,  I  will  that  they  also,  whom  thou  hast  given 
me."  —  Now  just  mark  that  prayer.  Could  you,  could  I, 
could  a  saint,  could  an  apostle  say,  "  Father,  I  will  ?  "  No  ; 
but  here  is  a  personage  who  stands  between  heaven  and 
earth,  and  says,  "  Father,  I  will  "  —  the  fiat  of  a  God,  not 
the  petition  of  a  lowly  and  a  suffering  creature  —  "I  will 

27 


34.4  scnirxuRE  headings. 

that  those  thou  hast  given  rae  be  with  me  ; "  that  is  heaven. 
Now  one  does  not  care  where  lieaven  is.  When  we  speak 
of  heaven  being  up,  and  hell  being  down,  we  use  popular 
language  ;  every  one  knows  that  what  is  up  at  twelve  o'clock 
at  midnight  is  down  at  twelve  o'clock  at  noonday.  Geo- 
graphically  looked  at,  up  and  down  ai"e  mere  phrases  ;  these 
expressions  are  meant  to  denote,  that  up  above  all  thought, 
above  all  imagination,  above  all  the  din,  the  turmoil,  the 
taint  of  this  world,  is  enthroned  One,  in  whose  presence 
there  is  fulness  of  joy,  and  at  whose  right  hand  there  are 
pleasures  for  ever.  And  if  we  be  with  Christ,  it  matters 
not  where  heaven  is.  I  do  not  see  why  this  world  cannot 
be  heaven ;  there  is  nothing  in  it  to  prevent  its  being  made 
so.  You  have  only  to  remove  sin  from  it ;  you  have  only 
to  let  it  be  consecrated  by  the  descending  footstep  of 
him  that  redeemed  it ;  you  have  only  to  have  Christ  in 
it  and  us  with  him ;  and,  that  must  be  everlasting  and  joy- 
ous heaven.  The  occupation  of  heaven  is,  "  That  they 
may  behold  my  glory."  His  glory  shines  from  the  plants, 
and  flowers,  and  fruits  of  the  earth ;  it  shines  from  in- 
numerable stars  strewn  through  the  depths  and  heights 
of  infinitude ;  it  shines  from  the  cross,  and  evidences  the 
love  that  gave  him  to  die  for  us,  and  the  mercy  that  had 
pity  upon  us  when  there  was  no  eye  to  pity  us. 


CHAPTER  XVII.  17. 

JUSTIFICATION  AND  SANCTIFICATION. SANCTIFICATION,  ITS  MEAN- 
ING.  TRUTH  THE  INSTRUMENT. GOD  THE  AUTHOR. IMPOR- 
TANCE   OF    HEARING  TRUTH. TRUTH  SET  FORTH    IN    THE    LORD's 

SUPPER. 

The  seventeenth  verse  of  this  chapter  is  worthy  of  special 
analysis.  It  is  as  follows  :  —  "  Sanctify  them  through  thy 
truth  ;  thy  word  is  truth." 

Sanctification  is  one  of  those  great  truths  defined  in  the 
Gospel,  but  frequently  mi.-^apprehended  by  some,  and  con- 
founded with  another  fundamental  doctrine  by  others.  Jus- 
tification is  totally  distinct  from  sanctification  ;  and  yet  the 
one  is  never  in  the  individual  severed  in  practice  from  the 
other.  Justification  is  an  act,  a  judicial  act,  done  at  once, 
done  for  ever,  incapable  of  increase,  and  beyond  the  possi- 
bility of  decrease.  Justified  at  all  you  are  justified  abso- 
lutely from  all  things  from  which  you  could  not  be  justified 
by  the  law.  Sanctification  is  a  work  or  a  process  tliat  goes 
on  from  degree  to  degree,  till  one  is  more  sanctified  to-day 
than  he  was  yesterday,  and  more  sanctified  before  death 
than  when  first  born  again  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  In  justifi- 
cation there  is  no  increase  or  decrease  whatever.  It  is  a 
sentence  pronounced  and  final.  In  sanctification  there  is 
increase  continuous  and  progressive,  till  grace  is  lost  in 
glory.  Justification  is  an  outer  thing  —  Christ's  righteous- 
ness imputed  to  us;  sanctification  is  an  inner  thing  —  the 
Holy  Spirit's  work  within  us.  Justification  is  a  change  of 
state ;  sanctification  is  a  change  of  heart  and  nature.     The 

(315) 


31 G  SCKIPTURE    READIXGS. 

one  lifts  us  from  the  prison  into  freedom  ;  the  other  ena- 
bles us  to  enjoy,  and  grow,  and  be  strong  and  healthy,  in 
that  freedom,  and  be  fit  for  a  nobler  freedom  —  the  privi- 
lege of  Jerusalem  which  is  above,  which  is  free,  the  mother 
of  us  all. 

Sanctification  has  two  meanings,  the  one  necessarily  flow- 
ing from  the  other,  in  the  New  Testament.  Its  jirimary  idea 
is  that  of  separation.  For  instance, "  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God, 
which  have  separated  you  from  all  people,  that  ye  may  be 
a  holy  people."  The  separation  first ;  the  holiness,  necessa- 
rily evolving  from  it.  Again,  we  read  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, "  Separated  unto  the  Gospel."  "  Chosen  out  of  the 
world."  "  Be  ye  separate."  That  is  the  rudimental  com- 
mencement of  sanctification  —  a  separation  from  immersion 
in,  approbation  of,  or  identity  with,  that  which  is  evil.  But 
whilst  this  is  its  primary  use,  its  frequent  use,  and  our  use 
of  it,  is  as  I  have  defined  it,  that  of  making  the  unholy 
holy  ;  producing,  developing,  out  of  the  old  man  a  new  crea- 
ture in  Christ  Jesus.  Not  resignation  of  duty  is  it,  but  the 
discharge  of  it ;  not  outer  conventual  robes,  but  inner  holy 
or  sanctified  character ;  not  the  maceration  or  mortification 
of  the  body,  but  of  the  lusts  of  the  soul,  and  the  implanta- 
tion in  their  stead  of  all  the  affections  of  a  new  creature  in 
Christ  Jesus.  It  is  the  saint  —  which  means  the  sanctified 
person  —  grafted  on  the  man  ;  it  is  the  heart  vitalized  or 
quickened  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God.  When  does  sanctifi- 
cation begin  ?  His  growth  begins  the  instant  that  a  babe 
is  born ;  his  sanctification  begins  the  instant  that  a  new  crea- 
ture is  born  again.  From  the  instant  that  the  heart  is  re- 
generated, and  we  are  made  new  creatures,  that  moment 
there  is  a  progressive  growth  in  triumph  over  evil,  in  sym- 
pathy with  good,  in  likeness  to  Christ,  the  ultimate  standard 
and  model,  and  in  fitness  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  There 
is  progress  in  the  long  run,  even  if  that  progress  should  not 
be  continuous.     The  babe  grows  to  the  full  man ;  the  light 


JOHN    XVII.  317 

pliinetli  more  and  more  unto  the  pei-fect  day;  llie  jrrain  of 
mustard-seed  grows  up  into  an  overshadowing  tree  ;  so  does 
he  that  is  (juickened  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  But  some  will 
say,  "Is  not  this  eontradieteJ  by  tiie  expei-ience  of  many? 
nay,  it  may  be  by  the  experience  of  us  all.  Are  we  con- 
scious of  growth  ?  We  believe  that  we  were  born  again  ; 
we  believe  that  there  was  deposited  in  our  hearts,  if  we  be 
Christians,  a  living  and  an  incorruptible  seed.  That  we  be- 
lieve ;  we  have  evidence  of  it.  But  have  we  really  made 
progress  ?  Have  we  been  characterized  by  real  and  sub- 
stantial growth  in  likeness  to  Christ  Jesus  ? "  Some  say, 
"  I  think  not;  I  have  not  the  same  feelings  of  exhilaration, 
of  excitement,  of  joy,  of  peace,  I  once  had."  I  answer, 
That  is  no  evidence.  When  a  person  is  first  brought  from 
darkness  unto  light,  the  excitement  is  so  intense  as  to  be 
almost  intolerable ;  but  when  he  has  lived  a  few  weeks  in 
the  light,  the  enjoyment  becomes  like  an  every-day  neces- 
sity. So  when  you  fii'st  emerged  from  darkness  unto  light, 
you  had  feelings  strong,  irrepressible  ;  but  may  it  not  be 
that  though  the  effervescence  be  gone,  there  remains  the 
pure  wine  of  the  kingdom  behind  ?  May  it  not  be  that 
though  all  the  excitement  of  your  first  enlightenment  is  now 
laid,  that  passion  then  so  fervent  may  have  now  become  a 
principle  more  strong,  more  solemn,  more  enduring  ?  But 
is  this  progress  in  sanctification  always  uniform  ?  I  do 
not  believe  it  is  always  uniform.  There  are  times  of  cold- 
ness, times  of  standing  still,  so  great  and  marked  as  almost 
to  indicate  degeneracy.  While  one  moves  onward  unfalter- 
ing, Avith  unquivering  eye,  from  strength  to  strength,  another 
again  seems  to  stand  still.  You  have  the  perfect  type  of  the 
growth  of  the  Christian  individual  in  the  progress  of  the 
Israelites  through  the  desert.  Sometimes  they  moved  for- 
ward with  great  speed  and  success;  at  other  times  stationary, 
at  other  times  retrograding ;  but  still  the  ultimate  result 
v/as,  in   some   of  them   at  least,   progress   and   success.     A 

27  * 


318  SCKirXURE    READINGS. 

plant  grows  slowly,  sometimes  it  stands  still,  sometimes  it 
actually  droops  and  bows  its  head ;  but  next  day  it  is  re- 
freshed, it  recovers,  it  grows  up  again,  and  rises  rapidly  to 
fruit  and  full  maturity.  So  is  it  with  the  progress  of  a 
Christian.  You  must  not  expect*  the  excitement  of  your 
first  thoughts,  serious  and  solemn,  about  religion ;  you 
must  not  expect  a  growth  that  can  be  measured  by  a  rule, 
steady,  invariable,  so  much  per  day.  Be  satisfied  that  you 
are  advancing,  that  there  is  ultimate  growth,  if  not  regu- 
lar growth,  that  can  be  measured  or  estimated  by  the  out- 
ward eye. 

A  very  important  fact  connected  with  this  precious  doc- 
ti'ine  of  sanctification,  is  this :  —  our  progress  in  sanctification 
will  very  much  determine  the  place  we  are  to  occupy  in 
glory.  The  believer  who  was  converted  to  the  truth  yester- 
day, and  the  believer  who  was  converted  twenty  years  ago, 
and  has  made  steady  progress  since,  equally  cross  the  thresh- 
old of  heaven,  because  the  one  has  just  as  complete  a  title 
of  admission  —  Christ's  finished  righteousness  —  as  the  other; 
but  the  one  who  has  lived  twenty  years  growing  in  grace  has 
a  fitness  for  a  place  in  heaven,  for  a  function,  for  privilege, 
for  enjoyment,  which  the  other  confessedly,  unless  we  deny 
plain  common  sense,  has  not.  Both  vessels  will  be  full ;  but 
the  one  vessel  has  a  larger  capacity  than  the  other.  Both 
stars  will  shine  in  the  lustre  of  the  same  bright  sun  ;  but  one 
star  diiFereth  from  another  star  in  glory.  Heaven  is  not  a 
dead  level,  a  dull  monotony ;  each  has  the  place  for  which 
the  Holy  Spirit  has  fitted  and  prepared  him  on  earth ;  and 
according  to  the  state  of  progress  that  he  has  made  when 
death  finds  hiiji,  will  be  the  place  of  dignity  and  privilege  he 
will  occupy  in  the  realms  of  glory.  If  this  be  so,  we  may 
say  in  a  very  true  and  just  sense,  believers  are  nov;^  select- 
ing upon  earth  the  place  they  are  to  occupy  in  heaven. 
"  Run  the  race ;  strive  to  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate ;  seek 
and  ye  shall  find  '•'  — the  language  of  pressing  perseverance  ; 


JOHN   XVII.  319 

and  whilst  we  give  God  the  glory  of  all,  we  nevei-  can  sliut 
our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  the  use  of  means  is  ours ;  and  that 
if  we  fail  through  indolence,  or  unbelief,  or  worldliness,  or 
covetousness,  in  the  use  of  those  means  that  contribute  to  our 
progress,  the  sin  and  loss  will  unquestionably  be  ours. 
Therefore  every  believer  is  now  really,  practically,  select- 
ing the  amount  of  happiness  he  is  to  enjoy  in  heaven. 
But  when  I  say,  the  amount  of  happiness  that  he  is  to 
enjoy  in  heaven,  let  me  remind  you  that  the  very  es- 
sence of  happiness  is  holiness  ;  and  that  progress  in  holi- 
ness is  really  progress  in  happiness.  The  real  truth  is,  that 
heaven  is  a  happy  place  just  because  it  is  a  holy  place  ;  and 
the  degree  of  sanctification  or  holiness  attained  by  a  Chris- 
tian upon  earth,  (I  mean  by  holiness,  conformity  to  the 
image  of  Christ,  superiority  to  all  the  sins  and  temptations  of 
the  world,  triumph  over  its  difficulties,  Avalking  in  the  fear  of 
God,  setting  him  before  us,  filial  affection  towards  him)  — 
the  degree  that  we  attain  of  that  on  earth  is  not  only  our 
happiness  here,  but  it  is  the  earnest  and  the  pre-llbation  of 
the  amount  of  our  happiness  for  ever.  Holiness  blossoms 
into  happiness  ;  happiness  is  its  flower  and  its  perfume. 
None  can  ever  be  truly  happy  but  they  that  are  truly  sanc- 
tified or  holy ;  and  he  has  most  of  heaven  in  his  heart,  who 
has  a  heart  most  sanctified  and  subdued  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
of  God. 

Growth  in  sanctification  is  most  desirable ;  because  in 
proportion  as  you  become  holy  you  sympathize  with  God's 
mind,  and  feel  the  obligations  and  responsibilities  of  charac- 
ter devolving  upon  you.  A  person  who  is  truly  sanctified 
lives  under  the  ceaseless  pressure  of  a  sense  of  duty  to  lead 
others  to  taste  that  happiness  which  he  has,  by  drinking  from 
that  spring  of  holiness  from  which  he  has  drunk  before  him. 
The  way  to  be  happy  is  to  be  holy  ;  and  the  way  to  feel 
happy  is  to  engage  in  active  work  for  Christ's  sake,  and  to 
God's  glory. 


S20  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

Having  seen  what  sanctification  is  in  the  heart  of  a  be- 
liever, let  us  notice  the  instrument  through  which  that  sanc- 
tification is  promoted.  "  Sanctify  them  through  thy  truth."  — 
"  Through  thy  trutli."  New  birth  is  by  the  truth  as  its  in- 
strument. "  Born  again  not  of  corruptible  seed,  but  of  in- 
corruptible; tlie  word  of  God,  that  liveth  and  abideth  for 
ever."  "We  are  sanctified  through  the  truth."  The  apostle 
Paul  says,  "  Chosen  of  God  through  sanctification  of  the 
Spirit."  He  is  the  author,  and  belief  of  the  truth  is  the  in- 
strument. And  being  therefore  sanctified  through  the  truth, 
we  ask,  how  does  the  truth  sanctify  us  —  how  does  it  do  so 
as  the  instrument?  First,  it  reveals  to  us  motives  and  prin- 
ciples. Open  your  Bible,  and  you  will  find  the  truth  stated 
in  every  page  of  it  as  an  inducement  or  incentive  to  growth 
and  progress  in  holiness.  "  I  beseech  you  by  the  mercies  of 
God  that  ye  present  your  bodies  living  sacrifices."  "  Seeing 
that  all  these  things  are  to  be  dissolved  "  —  that  is  another 
truth  —  "  what  manner  of  persons  ought  ye  to  be  !  "  "  Seeing 
we  are  compassed  about  by  so  great  a  cloud  of  witnesses  "  — 
well,  what  is  the  result  of  that  ?  —  "  Let  us  run  the  race  set 
before  us  with  patience."  Again,  "  As  he  who  has  called  us  is 
holy  "  — that  is  another  truth  ;  the  inference  is,  "  Be  ye  holy." 
Again,  "  Pass  the  time  of  your  sojourning  here  in  fear ;  for- 
asmuch as  ye  know,  that  ye  were  not  redeemed  with  corrupt- 
ible things,  as  silver  and  gold,  from  your  vj\in  conversation, 
received  by  tradition  from  your  fathers ;  but  witli  the  pre- 
cious blood  of  Christ,  as  of  a  lamb  without  blemish  and  with- 
out spot ; "  the  truth  of  our  redemption  leading  thus  to  sanc- 
tification. And  therefore  the  truth  sanctifies  us  by  unveil- 
ing to  us  motives,  hopes,  principles,  inducements  to  holiness. 
And  if  the  truth  be  thus  the  means  or  the  medium  of  our 
sanctification,  then  it  is  perfectly  evident  that  the  larger  the 
mass  of  truth  with  which  the  human  heart  is  brought  into 
contact,  the  more  the  influence,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  it 
will  exert  upon  that  heart.     We  need  to  have  our  minds 


JOHN  XVII.  321 

continually  brought  into  contact,  not  with  man's  opinions,  but 
with  the  truth.  "  Thy  word  is  trutli."  Tliat  word  ex- 
plained, elucidated,  set  in  every  light,  brought  home  to  the 
heart  and  to  the  conscience,  and  in  proportion  as  the  heart 
is  brought  into  contact  with  the  truth,  in  the  same  proportion 
will  that  heart  be  sanctified.  And  if  the  truth  be  the  means 
of  our  sanctification,  let  us  never  forget  that  every  doc- 
trine that  is  in  the  Bible  ought  to  be  preached,  and  listened 
to,  and  believed.  You  must  not  say,  "  I  do  not  like  this 
truth,  and  I  do  not  like  that."  If  it  be  truth,  it  is  one  of  the 
necessary  means  of  your  sanctification.  Never  say,  "  I  do 
not  like  that  preacher  because  he  preaches  election ;  "  or,  "  I 
do  not  like  that  preacher  because  he  dwells  constantly  upon 
man's  responsibility."  You  must  accept  the  whole  truth. 
You  are  sanctified  not  through  belief  of  election,  or  belief  of 
the  atonement,  or  belief  of  regeneration  ;  but  through  belief 
of  the  whole  truth,  as  that  truth  is  declared  and  revealed  in 
God's  blessed  word.  And  wherever  you  hear  any  truth  on 
which  is  t}\e  stamp  of  God's  approval,  and  the  evidence  of 
the  Spirit's  inspiration,  there  you  have  an  element  or  a  means 
of  your  sanctification.  And  if  this  be  so,  how  important  is  it 
then  that  you  should  listen  to  the  preaching  of  the  truth. 
To  sit  under  the  ceaseless  preaching  of  a  falsehood  is  to  sit 
under  a  ceaseless  poisoning  pi-ocess  ;  to  sit  under  the  cease- 
less exhibition  of  the  truth  is  to  sit  under  a  ceaselessly  sanc- 
tifying, elevating,  and  purifying  process.  It  is  not,  as  some 
people  think,  an  immateruil  thing  whether  the  sermon  be 
God's  truth  or  the  reverse;  and  it  is  not  true  that  you  go 
away,  if  it  is  not  God's  truth,  no  worse,  and  if  it  was  God's 
truth,  much  better.  On  the  contrary,  wherever  you  hear  a 
sermon  preached  which  has  no  truth  in  it,  or  which  has  the 
contrary  of  the  truth  in  it,  you  are  to  that  extent,  except  by 
special  G;race,  a  loser ;  and  every  time  that  you  hear  the 
truth  preached,  you  are  either  sanctified  through  it,  or  you 
are  made  more  responsible  for  having  heard  it.     And  when 


322  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

Ave  know  how  very  deceptive  the  human  heart  is ;  when  we 
know  how  very  prone  it  is  to  chime  in  with  what  is  evil,  I 
do  not  beheve  there  is  a  more  perilous  or  a  more  pernicious 
thing  to  a  Christian  in  this  world,  even  to  a  true  Christian, 
than  constantly  hearing  that  which  is  not  the  Gospel. 
The  action  of  the  ceaseless  exhibition  of  error  is  the 
gradual  poisoning  of  the  heart  and  the  conscience.  Far, 
far  better,  hear  the  humblest,  poorest  preacher  telling 
you  from  the  heart  God's  truth,  than  the  most  gifted 
and  eloquent  orator  unfolding  his  own  opinions,  or  tra- 
dition, or  heresies,  or  errors.  Never  forget  it  is,  "  Sanc- 
tify them,"  not  through  any  sermon  ;  but  it  is,  "  Sanc- 
tify them  through  thy  truth."  Every  truth  that  you  hear 
preached  faithfully  and  fully  is  either  food  to  nourish  you, 
or  medicine  to  heal  you,  or  wine  to  restore  and  refresh  you. 
And  therefore  when  you  can  hear  the  truth,  hear  it  and  be 
thankful  for  it ;  and  never  forget  your  responsibility  in  the 
sight  of  God  for  what  you  hear.  It  is  not  the  minister,  but 
the  ministry  that  you  are  to  think  of.  It  is  not  who  says  it, 
but  what  he  says,  that  is  vital  and  essential,  and  through 
which,  if  the  truth,  you  are  sanctified. 

Whilst  I  have  thus  stated  the  process  of  sanctification  and 
the  means  through  which  it  is  ordinarily  achieved,  let  me 
not  omit  to  state  what  is  the  most  essential  and  vital  thing, 
that  God  is  the  Author  of  it.  These  words  of  our  Lord, 
are  part  of  his  intercessory  prayer.  "  Holy  Father,  sanctify 
them  through  thy  truth."  No  ministry  can  do  it,  no  sermon 
can  do  it ;  the  Holy  Spirit  alone  is  the  Sanctiiier,  the 
Teacher,  and  the  Comforter.  And  whilst  therefore  we  ap- 
preciate the  truth,  and  not  partial  truth,  but  the  whole  truth 
as  the  medium,  we  must  never  forget  that  God  is  the  efficient 
Author  of  it  all. 

The  Lord's  Supper  is  so  precious  because  it  brings  viv- 
idly before  you  the  truth.  Now  here  is  the  mistake  into 
which  people  fall.     They  think  that  persons  are  sanctified, 


JOHN  XVII.  323 

or  comforted,  or  strengthoncd,  through  the  bread  or  through 
the  wine,  or  through  the  rite  they  are  celebrating.  But 
that  is  a  great  mistake.  You  are  sanctified  through  the  truth 
that  the  ordinance  brings  before  you.  The  Lord's  Supper 
is  designed  and  meant  to  bring  trutli  vividly  before  you,  not 
because  there  is  any  thing  in  the  bread,  or  any  thing  in  the 
wine,  but  because  it  is  what  Christ  commanded  you  to  do, 
and  in  doing  which  he  has  promised  to  give  his  blessing ;  it 
is  because  that  bread  and  that  wine  vividly  set  before  you 
the  most  vital,  the  most  essential  truth,  which  is  the  root  of 
all  truth,  the  very  source  and  life  of  all  truth,  that  you  are 
not  through  it,  but  through  what  it  seals  and  sets  forth,  sanc- 
tified, and  cheered,  and  gladdened,  and  strengthened.  There 
is  no  more  sanctifying  virtue  in  the  bread  and  wine  on  the 
communion  table  fer  se  than  there  is  in  the  notes  of  the 
minister's  sermon,  or  in  the  type  by  which  the  Bible  is  printed. 
The  sanctifying  power  is  through  the  intelligent  understand- 
ing of  it,  through  the  truth  that  it  vividly,  pointedly,  and  clearly 
brings  before  you.  For  while  God  is  the  Author  of  the  sanc- 
titication,  it  is  not  the  sacraments,  precious  as  they  are,  but  the 
truths  which  the  sacraments  signify,  that  are  the  media  and 
the  means  of  your  progress,  sanctification,  growth  in  happi- 
ness. And  therefore  it  is  a  reasonable  service.  It  is  not  an 
opus  operatum ;  it  is  not,  taste  the  bread,  and  you  take 
the  charm  that  sanctifies  you ;  or  sip  the  wine,  and  you 
taste  an  amulet  that  makes  you  another  creature  ;  it  is  by 
these  bearing  the  impress  of  a  Divine,  even  our  Saviour's, 
institution;  it  is  by  these  bearing  the  impress,  and  setting 
forth  and  reminding  you  of,  and  vividly  preaching  —  for  the 
language  is,  "  Ye  do  show  forth  Christ's  death ; "  ye  do 
evangelize  it,  preach  it  —  Christ's  death,  that  through  these 
precious  truths  you  are  sanctified,  comforted,  strengthened, 
in  coming  to  that  holy  and  blessed  ordinance. 

You  can  see,  in  the  next  place,  why  a  Christian  thirsts 
more  and    more  to  know  the  truth.     Ilis  whole  tendency 


324  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

and  desire  is  to  be  like  God ;  and  he  knows  that  through 
tlie  truth  he  is  sanctified  and  made  like  him ;  and  therefore 
he  desires  to  know  the  truth  in  all  its  length  and  its  breadth 
fully.  And  it  is  sanctification  through  the  truth,  let  me  add, 
that  genei'ates  in  the  individual  heart  the  deepest  conviction 
of  the  inspiration  and  divine  origin  of-  this  blessed  book. 
"^Sanctify  them  through  thy  truth."  And  what  will  be  the 
result  of  that  ?  This  discovery,  "  Thy  word  is  truth."  The 
man  who  is  a  Christian  is  the  man  that  most  thoroughly  be- 
lieves the  Bible  to  be  divine ;  it  is  the  inner  effect  of  the 
book,  or  rather  of  the  contents  of  the  book,  upon  the  indi- 
vidual heart,  that  by  a  reflex  action  makes  that  book  appear 
to  that  individual  more  and  more  the  Bible.  And  therefore, 
"  Sanctify  them  through  thy  truth ;  thy  word  is  truth." 
The  sanctification  your  fitness,  the  righteousness  of  Christ 
your  title.  Thus  justified,  thus  sanctified,  you  come  to  that 
holy  ordinance  to  commemorate  the  great  and  precious  sac- 
rifice by  which  you  are  forgiven  ;  and  to  seek,  through  the 
truth  it  seals  and  sets  forth,  progress  in  fitness  for  heaven, 
progress  in  that  character  which  will  qualify  you  for  occupy- 
ing no  mean  place  in  that  city  that  hath  foundations,  whose 
builder  and  maker  is  God. 

May  He   command  his  blessing  upon  these   truths,  for 
Christ's  sake.     Amen. 


CHAPTER  XVII.  20,  21. 

THE    CHURCH  AND  THE    WOKLD. OPPOSITES. FEATURES     OF    THE 

CHURCH. — VISIBILITY    OF    THE    CHURCH.  THE    APOSTASY. A 

VISIBLE  CHURCH. BAPTISM.  THE  COMMUNION.  ORDINA- 
TION.   THE  CLERGY  NOT  THE  CHURCH.  DIFFERENT  COMMUN- 
IONS.   UNITY  OF  THE  CHURCH.  GREAT    TRUTHS. CHARMING 

VARIETY. PERFECT  UNITY  IN  THE  AGE  TO  COME. 

"Neithp:r  pray  I  for  these  alone,  buffer  them  also 
which  shall  believe  on  me  through  their  word ;  that  they  all 
may  be  one ;  as  thou,  Father,  art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee,  that 
they  also  may  be  one  in  us  :  that  the  world  may  believe 
that  thou  hast  sent  me."     Thus  Jesus  intercedes. 

The  distinction  runs  clear  and  sharp  through  the  whole 
chapter,  from  its  commencement  to  its  close,  between  those 
who  are  called  "  the  world,"  and  those  who  are  called  the 
Church,  or  the  company  and  fellowship  of  all  true  believers. 
There  is,  in  the  language  of  another  portion  of  Scripture, 
"  a  world  that  lieth  in  the  wicked  one  ;  "  the  characteristics 
and  constituent  elements  of  which  are,  the  lust  of  the  flesh, 
the  pride  of  life,  the  love  of  this  world.  And  there  is  its 
coiTelative,  opposed  to  it,  constantly  in  contact  with  it,  yet 
in  antagonism  to  it  —  the  church  of  the  living  God  ;  that 
world  whicli  has  been  a  battle  plain  for  ecclesiastical  com- 
batants, and  yet  that  world  which  looked  at  and  sought  out 
for  definition  in  the  AVord  of  God,  appears  to  me  so 
plain  that  he  that  reads  may  run  while  he  studies  and  ap- 
prehends it. 

Between  these  two  then  we  are  told  almost  in  every  por- 

28  (325) 


326  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

tion  of  this  Gospel  there  will  be  war.  There  is  peace  ap- 
parently at  present ;  but  is  it,  I  wonder,  that  the  world  has 
become  Christian,  or  that  the  Christian  has  become  worldly  ? 
Or  is  it  that  the  antagonism  is  not  the  vulgar  one  of  bond, 
and  imprisonment,  and  fire,  and  fagot ;  but  the  more  subtle, 
and  yet  not  less  trying  one  of  reproach,  and  scorn,  and 
shame,  and  ignominy,  and  contempt?  It  may  be  true  that 
conflicts  between  the  church  and  the  world  have  been  waged 
in  drawing-rooms  as  stern  and  as  trying  as  ever  were  waged 
amid  the  fagots  and  in  the  flames,  when  Caesar  swayed  his 
iron  sceptre,  and  the  recusants  of  his  idolatry  were  the  fol- 
lowers of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  There  is  a  battle  which 
the  world  cannot  see ;  which  has  no  smoke,  no  flame,  and 
about  which,  and  of  which,  no  trumpet  sounds ;  but  yet  real. 
When  a  Christian  can  take  the  course  that  conscience  dic- 
tates, and  the  nearest  and  the  dearest  to  him  brand  him  or 
her  as  a  fanatic,  a  Methodist,  a  Calvinist,  or  some  other 
strange  name  from  the  world's  nomenclature ;  there  may  be 
in  bearing  the  scoff  of  those  we  love,  in  braving  the  con- 
tempt of  those  among  whom  we  are,  to  a  sensitive  and  a 
finely  tuned  heart,  more  real  agony  than  encountering  the 
wild  beasts,  and  being  burned  in  the  flame.  Let  us  not 
therefore  suppose  that  the  world  has  made  a  truce  because 
we  do  not  hear  the  din  of  the  conflict.  Wherever  there  is 
living  religion  in  an  individual  heart,  there  is  one  placed  in 
antagonism  to  the  world  ;  and  in  some  shape  —  what  that 
shape  may  be  we  cannot  prophesy  —  but  in  some  shape  the 
world  and  that  individual  will  come  into  a  collision  that 
will  on  the  one  hand  condemn  the  world,  and  be  to  that 
individual  a  proof  that  Christ  has  chosen  him  out  of  the 
world. 

Now  when  Jesus  speaks  of  these  two  classes,  he  gives  us 
the  peculiar  and  distinctive  characteristics  of  the  one  class. 
He  speaks  of  those  that  the  Father  has  given  him  —  those 
that  are  branches  of  the  livinij  vine  —  those  that  love  Christ 


JOHN  XVII.  327 

—  those  that  keep  his  commamlinents  —  tliose  that  are  hated 
by  the  world  —  those  that  in  the  world  have  tribulation,  but 
in  him  have  peace.  Kow  these  are  the  members  of  the 
Church  of  Christ.  And,  common  sense  will  tell  you  that  if 
you  love  Christ,  if  you  rest  upon  him  for  peace,  if  you  obey 
his  commandments,  if  you  read  his  Word,  if  you  love  his 
people,  Popes  may  excommunicate  you,  haughty  Hildebrands 
may  despise  you  ;  you  may  be  unchurched  by  A.,  and  anath- 
ematized by  B. ;  but  you  are  a  Christian,  and  therefore  a 
member  of  that  church  which  shall  survive  all  churches  — 
the  catholic,  the  redeemed,  the  sanctified,  the  adopted  church 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  All  outward  systems  are  but  ap- 
proximations to  this,  as  I  shall  show  in  the  sequel  of  my  re- 
marks ;  they  are  not  it.  Do  not  forget  that  salvation  is 
personal  relation  to  a  personal  Christ  ;  and  if  you  belong  to 
him  you  need  not  doubt  one  moment  that  you  are  a  member 
of  the  true  church,  whether  you  be  Churchman  or  Dissenter, 
Independent  or  AVesleyan  ;  and  if  you  do  not  belong  to 
Him,  you  may  argue  about  church  and  chapel,  and  estab- 
lishment and  dissent,  till  the  millennium  ;  you  have  no  lot 
nor  part  in  this  matter.  If  all  men  would  only  think  more, 
and  feel  more,  and  study  more  to  ascertain  each  one's  re- 
lationship to  Christ,  all,  without  suspecting  it,  without  striv- 
ing after  it,  would  find  themselves  one  happy  brotherhood, 
one  true  catholic  church  in  Christ  Jesus. 

But  Jesus  not  only  prays  in  this  chapter  for  them  that 
were  his,  and  whom  he  specifies  there ;  but  for  all  that 
tlirough  their  words  shall  believe  on  him  even  to  the  end 
of  the  world.  This  lonely  sufferer,  despised  and  rejected 
of  men,  yet  looked  along  the  vista  of  two  thousand  yeai's, 
and  he  saw  his  church  lasting  to  tlie  world's  close.  Does 
not  this  show  that  if  Jesus  was  not  God,  as  we  believe  he  was, 
he  was  at  least  a  prophet  to  whom  the  end  and  the  begin- 
ning were  equally  luminous  ?  And  what  do  you  find  ?  That 
Church  has  existed  from  the  day  when  Christ  uttered  these 


?)28  SCKIPTURE    READINGS. 

words  onwards  to  the  present  moment.  It  has  cot  always 
been  strikingly  visible.  When  the  Romanist  says,  "  If  your 
church  be  not  visible  it  ceases  to  be  a  chui'ch,"  he  might  as 
well  say  that  when  a  man  ceases  to  stand  upon  a  hill,  and  is 
shut  up  in  a  closet,  he  ceases  to  be  a  man.  Visibility  is  only 
an  accident ;  it  is  not  of  the  essence  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 
And  very  often  God's  people  may  be  so  hidden  that  a 
prophet  shall  be  constrained  to  say,  "  I  only  am  left ; "  but 
it  was  his  ignorance,  for  there  were  seven  thousand  unseen 
to  him  that  had  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal.  So  in  the 
middle  ages  the  Church  may  have  been,  though  the  Church 
was  not  visibly  resplendent.  And  if  the  Romish  Church 
asks  us,  "  Then  where  was  the  Church  in  the  days  of 
Gregory  VII.  or  Ilildebrand,  or  in  the  days  of  Gregory 
IX.,  or  immediately  before  Leo  X.  ?  "  I  answer,  "  You  are 
the  last  men  upon  earth  that  ought  to  ask  such  a  question. 
You  know  where  the  true  Church  was ;  you  had  the  keys 
of  the  prison  doors  that  shut  them  up ;  you  had  the  lights 
that  ignited  the  fagots  that  consumed  them."  The  caves  of 
the  Cottian  Alps  are  strewed  with  their  bones  that  have 
bleached  for  five  hundred  years  ;  there  is  not  a  nook,  or  cor- 
ner, or  an  acre  in  broad  Eui'ope  that  will  not  testify  before 
God  that  the  Church  was  here ;  and  add  the  most  awful 
testimony  that  the  apostate  Church  was  here  also,  proscrib- 
ing and  punishing  it.  That  the  Church  of  Christ,  therefore, 
ever  has  been,  is  certain.  But  it  was  not  what  some  of  our 
very  high  churchmen  —  if  such  they  may  be  called  —  allege, 
always  visible.  Those  people  that  so  call  themselves,  I  re- 
mark in  passing,  are  really  the  lowest  churchmen  upon 
earth.  I  hold  myself  to  be  a  very  high  churchman ;  but 
my  church  is  so  high  that  there  is  none  above  it ;  and  what- 
ever is  below  it  is  not  the  true  church.  It  is  the  company 
of  Christ's  people  who  have  washed  their  robes  and  made 
them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb ;  that  is  the  true  high 
church  ;  and  all  churches  that  contradict  it  are  so  low  that 


JOHN  XVII.  329 

I  cannot  consent  to  join  tliem.  I  say,  the  true  Chui'ch  in 
the  niiddU;  ages  was  not  that  great  company  that  worshipped 
in  cathedrals  ;  that  had  prince-hishops ;  that  had  all  the 
pomp  and  splendor  of  this  world's  circumstance.  That  was 
the  apostasy.  The  true  Church  was  the  woman  that  had 
rushed  into  the  wilderness  for  shelter  ;  she  was  the  two  or 
three  that  began  in  the  days  of  Augustine,  that  carried  on 
their  beautiful  but  quiet  succession  in  the  days  of  the  Wal- 
denses  in  the  AVest,and  the  Paulikians  in  the  East;  and  that 
appeared  as  the  "  two  witnesses  "  —  the  fewest  essential  to 
constitute  a  valid  testimony  —  till  the  days  of  Martin  Luther; 
and  then  they  made  their  appearance  in  greater  numbers. 
Whence  is  the  word  Protestant  ?  From  j^rotesior,  "  I  pro- 
test ; "  and  protestor  from  testis,  a  witness.  Now  the  "  two  wit- 
nesses "  in  the  middle  ages  —  the  members  of  the  Church 
—  is  literally  translated,  "  the  two  Protestants,"  from  Au- 
gustine onward  to  Martin  Luther.  And  these  "  two  wit- 
nesses "  —  the  types  of  the  true  Church,  like  a  beautiful 
silver  thread  run  from  the  days  of  Paul  onward  to  the  days 
of  Lutlier :  and  what  the  world  pronounced  in  its  folly  to 
be  the  Church,  God  had  registered  hi  heaven  as  the  man  of 
sin,  the  great  apostasy,  the  woman  on  seven  hills,  drunk 
with  the  blood  of  the  saints  of  Jesus.  Thus  then  we  see 
that  there  has  been  a  church  from  the  beginning,  and  there 
will  be  to  the  end  ;  and  Jesus  prays  not  only  ibr  them  that 
believed  in  his  name  then,  but  for  all  that  should  believe  in 
it  to  the  very  close  of  this  dispensation. 

Now,  what  is  their  characteristic  ?  That  they  are  Christ's 
body,  that  they  are  the  purchase  of  his  blood,  that  they  are 
new  creatures,  that  they  are  justified  by  Christ's  righteous- 
ness, that  they  are  sanctified  by  his  Holy  Spirit.  All  that 
bear  these  marks,  however  branded  by  men,  are  part  and 
parcel  of  Christ's  true  Church,  But  you  say  (and  yon  say 
very  naturally),  "  This  is  the  church  that  God  sees  ;  this  is 
the  church  that  basks  in  the  eye  of  the  Omniscient  and  the 
28* 


330  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

Omnipresent.  This  we  admit ;  but  how  do  you  define  a 
visible  church?  Is  there  such  a  thing  as  a  visible  church?" 
I  answer,  Certamlj  ;  and  just  notice  now  how  naturally  and 
necessarily  a  company  of  Chi-istians  upon  earth  —  that  is, 
true  believers  —  see  that  to  manifest  themselves  to  the  world 
is  a  duty ;  and  therefore  constitute  themselves  into  a  church 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  Church  that  I  have  por- 
trayed is  the  pattern  in  the  heavens  —  that  is,  the  perfect 
Church.  But  is  it  not  matter  of  great  thankfulness  that  we 
have  a  perfect  model  set  before  us  in  the  Bible  ?  —  in 
heaven,  it  is  true,  but  still  visible  to  us,  and  to  which  the 
nearer  we  approximate  the  more  we  approach  to  a  perfect 
church.  And  that  visible  church  upon  earth  —  whetlier  it 
be  English,  Scottish,  or  Irish  —  that  is  likest  in  its  doctrine, 
nearest  in  its  discipline,  most  assimilated  in  its  practice 
to  the  company  of  true  believers  that  are  in  gloi-y,  is  the 
most  scriptural  church,  and  the  truest  branch  of  the  church 
universal.  And  to  show  that  all  true  Christians  upon  earth, 
finding  that  they  are  true  believers,  that  they  are  united  to 
Christ,  will  instantly  feel  it  their  duty  to  let  the  world  know 
that  it  is  so,  we  find  a  command  laid  upon  all  to  be  baptized, 
and  a  command  addressed  to  the  teachers  and  ministers  of 
the  Church  to  baptize.  Now  what  is  baptism  ?  It  is  just 
the  declaration  before  the  world  that  the  mark  and  the  im- 
press of  Christ  is  upon  us.  The  original  idea  of  baptism 
was  a  profession  before  the  world  that  Christ  was  ours,  and 
that  we  are  Christ's.  But  you  will  instantly  say,  "  But  if 
baptism  be  administered  in  infancy,  how  can  this  be  true  ?  " 
I  answer,  The  time  of  its  ministration  is  nothing;  whether 
it  be  administered  in  infancy  —  that  is,  thirty,  forty  years 
ago — ror  whether  it  be  administered  yesterday,  if  the  ac- 
ceptance of  it  be  understood  ;  it  is  for  all  substantial  and 
practical  purposes  the  same.  If  I  am  not  a  Christian,  if 
I  am  ashamed  of  Christianity,  I  denude  myself  of  my  bap- 
tism ;  I  renounce  it :  but  if  I  feel  in  my  heart  that  I  am  a 


JOHN  XVII.  331 

Christian,  tlien  I  stand  by  the  obhgations  included  in  bap- 
tism ;  I  take  them  all  upon  me ;  I  profess  to  be  a  baptized 
man  ;  and  by  being  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  the 
Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  not  to  be  regenerated,  but  because 
I  was  regenerated  ;  and  therefore  if  baptized,  I  profess  to  be 
a  member  of  Christ,  and  a  member  of  his  church  universal. 
A  second  thing  that  will  necessarily  lead  to  this  outward 
exhibition  before  the  world,  is  our  celebrating  the  commun- 
ion. What  is  meant  by  that  ?  That  as  baptism  admits  us 
into  the  outward  and  visible  church,  the  communion  table  is 
a  sign  and  symbol  in  the  visible  chui"ch  of  our  resting  upon 
Christ,  our  feeding  upon  him,  our  trusting  on  him,  and  our 
looking  for  his  second  advent.  It  is  such  a  great  pity  that 
men  do  not  take  these  simple  views  of  the  sacrament,  that 
there  are  two  churches,  the  outward  and  visible,  and 
the  inward  and  spiritual.  Baptism  admits  us  to  the  out- 
ward, where  there  are  professors  and  those  that  are  real,  — 
tares  and  wheat ;  regeneration  admits  us  to  the  inner  church. 
The  Lord's  Supper  is  communion  with  the  outer ;  union 
with  Christ  by  the  Holy  Spirit  is  communion  with  the  inner. 
Now  the  Holy  Spirit  gives  us  communion  with  the  inner 
church,  the  ordinances  of  the  visible  church  are  the  media 
of  our  communication  and  communion  with  the  outer  church; 
but  both  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  necessitate  by  their 
very  nature  a  profession  visibly  of  principles  that  we  have 
embraced  in  our  inmost  hearts.  And  then  the  result  now 
of  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  will  be,  that  we  shall 
necessarily  and  naturally  court  association ;  and  the  more 
so  we  shall  court  it,  because  our  Lord  himself  says  that, 
"  Wheresoever  two  or  three  of  these  true  Christians  are  met 
in  my  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them."  That  is  the 
essence  of  a  true  church.  A  church  may  be  developed  into 
provincial  or  national ;  but  the  germ  of  it,  the  essence  of  it, 
is  wherever  two  or  three  Christians  are  met  in  Christ's 
name ;  that  is  the  true  church  —  two  or  three,  not  two  or 


332  SCRII'TURE    READINGS. 

three  thousand  ;  "  wheresoever  "  —  it  matters  not  where  ; 
hill-side,  sea-shore,  chapel,  barn,  church,  cathedral  —  the 
architect  builds  the  cathedral,  the  orator  collects  the  crowd  : 
it  is  Christ  in  the  midst  of  it  that  makes  the  crowd  a  congre- 
gation, and  the  people  a  church.  You  have  thus  Baptism 
and  the  Lord's  Supper  as  outward  signs,  necessitating  our 
congregating  together  in  the  name  of"  Christ.  If  you  ask, 
"  Why  do  you  thus  meet  together  ?  "  it  is  to  hear  read 
Christ's  word,  to  }>ray  in  Christ's  name,  to  celebrate  together 
Christ's  praise  ;  to  set  forth  his  most  worthy  praise,  to  read 
his  holy  Word,  and  to  ask  those  things  which  are  requisite 
and  necessary  alike  for  soul  and  for  body.  And  being  so 
met,  we  constitute,  by  baptism,  by  communion,  by  our  meet- 
ing together,  a  visible  church  ;  that  is,  true  believers  are 
there,  though  mixed  with  them  there  ever  has  been,  and 
there  ever  will  be,  an  alloy  of  those  that  are  not  believers. 
Many  come  to  hear  the  sermon  who  do  not  come  to  hear 
Christ ;  many  come  to  the  house  of  God  who  do  not  seek 
the  God  of  the  house.  And  thus  while  it  is  true  that  no 
true  Christian  will  absent  himself  from  the  outward  wor- 
ship —  I  mean  deliberately  and  wilfully  —  many  that  are  not 
true  Christians,  nevertheless  will  come  and  appear  in  the 
house  of  God. 

Having  seen  how  a  congregation  is  formed,  you  will  no- 
tice in  the  next  place  that  all  baptized,  and  communicants, 
and  worshippers,  are  not  equally  gifted.  One  man  has  the 
gift  of  the  purse,  which  is  most  valuable  ;  and  he  contributes 
to  the  maintenance  and  spread  of  the  Gospel.  Anothei 
man  has  the  gift  of  great  position,  and  he  gives  his  influ- 
ence. But  other  men  have  the  gift  of  teaching,  and  are  apt 
to  teach  ;  and  they  exercise  this  gift.  And  as  you  have  the 
week,  six  days,  to  toil  for  your  bread,  and  want  to  be  taught 
how  to  toil  for  that  bread  in  God's  sight  and  serve  him,  there 
must  necessarily  be  what  there  has  always  been  —  a  class  or 
combination  of  teachers,  or  ministers,  or  evangelists,  or  pas- 


JOHN  XVII.  333 

tors.  If  you  ask,  Is  not  that  the  people  making  the  min- 
ister? I  answer,  No  ;  not  at  alL  No  bishop  in  the  Church 
of  England  can  make  a  minister ;  no  presbytery  in  the 
Church  of  Scotland  can  make  a  presbyter.  The  first  thing 
to  be  ascertained  is,  Is  this  man  moved  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  be  a  minister  ?  And  if  you  find  it  to  be  so  by  an  inquisi- 
tion that  is  fallible  but  still  dutiful,  then  the  bishop  can  only 
say,  "  Within  the  jurisdiction  that  I  have,  and  according  to 
the  forms  I  prescribe,  you  preach  ; "  and  the  presbytery  can 
say,  "  "Within  our  province,  and  according  to  our  forms,  you 
preach."  But  he  is  made  a  minister  within  first  by  the 
Holy  Ghost ;  then  he  gets  the  sanction,  the  seal,  and  the 
outward  recognition  and  sepai-ation  by  (as  it  is  well  said  in 
an  Article  of  the  Church  of  England  —  and  the  Articles  of 
the  Church  of  England  are  any  thing  but  high-church,  they 
are  exceedingly  low  church  in  the  common  sense  of  the 
word ;  that  is,  exceedingly  scriptural)  "  those  that  in  the 
congregation  have  authority  to  do  so ; "  a  very  simple  and 
a  very  beautiful  definition. 

■  I  do  not  think,  and  I  cannot  see  that  the  people  have  the 
power  to  ordain  or  to  lay  hands  upon  the  minister.  I  have 
not  the  least  doubt  that  in  the  early  Church  the  people  took 
a  great  part  in  the  appointment  of  their  ministers ;  and  in 
or  out  of  our  estabhshments  the  people  still  take  a  part  in 
the  selection  of  a  minister ;  but  the  ordination  of  a  minister, 
it  does  seem  to  me  from  the  Bible,  and  it  seems  naturally 
from  the  thing  itself,  is  to  be  by  those  who  themselves  have 
been  previously  ordained.  The  apostolical  succession  is  in 
one  sense  the  greatest  absurdity  ;  but  in  another  sense  it  has 
been  ever  since  the  days  of  the  apostle  Paul ;  one  minister 
has  been  ordained  by  those  that  were  before  him  onward  to 
the  present  moment.  But  to  assert  that  there  is  a  church 
or  no  church  according  to  your  success  in  tracing  the  links 
of  the  ordination  of  that  church's  ministers,  is  altogether  a 
different  question,  and  is  simply  to  play  into  the  hands  of 


834  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

tlie  sceptic.  I  can  see,  therefore,  an  outward  congregation 
established  in  Scripture ;  I  can  see  an  outward  ministry,  be- 
cause the  Apostle  Paul,  in  his  Epistles  to  Timothy  and  Titus, 
unmistakably  asserts  it ;  but  at  the  same  time  I  believe  the 
ministers  are  not  a  church.  You  hear  very  frequently 
people  say,  "  My  son  is  gone  into  the  church."  You  ask, 
"  What  do  you  mean  ?  Do  you  mean  that  he  is  baptized  ?  " 
"  Oh,  no  ;  I  mean  he  has  become  a  minister."  But  that  is 
not  going  into  the  church ;  that  is  becoming  a  minister  — 
quite  a  different  thing.  The  ministry  —  whether  it  be 
Bishop  or  Presbytery  —  is  not  the  Church.  The  Republic 
is  not  America,  the  Monarchy  is  not  England.  The  people- 
existed  before  the  republic  was  in  America,  and  the  people 
existed  before  the  monarchy  was  in  England.  It  is  the 
people  that  are  the  nation  ;  the  monarchy  nobly  and  beauti- 
tifully  rules  it.  So  in  the  Church  of  Christ,  the  ministers 
are  not  the  Church,  it  is  the  people  that  are  the  Church. 
And  I  do  not  know  a  thought  that  ought  to  be  more  deeply 
riveted  on  the  hearts  of  the  present  generation  than  this, 
that  the  clergy  are  not  the  Church ;  they  are  simply  the 
officers.  And  what  would  Sir  Charles  Napier  do  upon  the 
Baltic  if  he  had  not  a  crew  ?  what  would  Admiral  Dundas 
do  on  the  Euxine  if  he  had  not  gallant  sailors  on  the  deck  ? 
What  would  Lord  Raglan  have  done  at  Alma  if  he  had  had 
no  soldiers  ?  The  fact  is,  the  clergy  ought  to  be  reminded 
that  if  they  provoke  a  quarrel,  who  is  greatest  in  the  Church 
of  Christ,  they  will  find  that  they  will  fare  the  worst  when 
it  comes  to  an  impartial  issue.  The  truth  is,  the  whole  New 
Testament  is  for  the  people,  and  is  addressed  to  the  people. 
The  Epistle  to  the  Romans  —  to  whom  was  that  addressed  ? 
To  Roman  soldiers,  and  Roman  sailors,  and  Roman  shop- 
keepers, and  Roman  tradesmen,  and  Roman  masters.  And 
all  the  other  Epistles  have  the  same  character  :  and  two  or 
three  tiny  Epistles  —  two  to  Timothy  and  one  to  Titus  — 
are  all  the  property  in  the  New  Testament  that  the  clergy 


JOHN  xvir.  335 

have  as  clergy.  You,  the  people,  have  the  inagnificent,  the 
lion's  share ;  we,  the  ministers,  have  a  very  much  less  i)or- 
tion  indeed.  It  is  hetter  not  to  provoke  the  quarrel ;  it  is 
better  to  concede  the  right  where  the  right  is  so  clear.  The 
people  are  the  Church,  and  the  ministers  are  but  the  leaders, 
the  guides,  the  officers,  the  servants  of  the  Church  for 
Christ's  sake,  to  minister,  not  to  your  prejudices,  but  to  your 
instruction,  edification,  and  growth  in  grace. 

The  Church  of  Christ  is  not  confined  to  any  one  sect  or 
visible  denomination  that  I  know  in  the  world  at  this  moment. 
Is  there  any  one  sect  or  church  that  can  say,  "  We  compre- 
hend all  the  people  of  God  ?  "  If  it  can  say  so,  and  if  it 
cair  prove  it,  then  that  is  the  only  true  Church  ;  but  if  you 
find  hundreds  —  nay,  not  hundreds,  but  thousands  of  true 
Christians  worshipping  visibly  upon  other  platforms,  and 
extrinsic  to  the  church  that  makes  these  pretensions,  then  you 
have  a  proof  that  that  church  does  not  comprehend  all  God's 
l^eople.  And,  singular  enough,  the  only  church  upon  earth 
that  claims  a  monopoly  of  salvation  is  the  only  church  that 
has  lost  the  Saviour  and  the  way  to  heaven.  And  very 
singular  it  is,  that  the  nearer  any  body  of  men  approach  to 
the  Church  of  Rome  the  more  arrogant  they  become,  and 
the  more  they  assume  to  be  the  lords  paramount  of  the 
whole  Church  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  "Well,  when  we 
look  around  us  on  the  world,  we  can  see  true  Christians  in 
every  economy,  true  worshippers  of  the  Lamb  in  every  sec- 
tion of  the  Church  universal ;  and  we  learn,  as  we  view  the 
great  scene,  that  the  discipline  of  the  Church  is  temporary, 
the  doctrine  of  the  Church  is  eternal  ;  that  to  belong  to 
Christ  is  the  main  thing,  that  the  discipline  you  adopt  is  a 
very  subordinate  thing.  And  this  teaches  us,  in  the  next 
place,  it  is  not  the  government  of  the  church  that  creates 
life,  but  only  gives  an  egress  to  life.  Episcopacy  cannot 
make  a  living  church  ;  Presbytery  cannot  make  a  living 
church.     On  the  contrary,  the  church  may  die  under  Bishops 


336  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

just  as  it  may  die  under  Presbyters.  There  is  no  guarantee 
in  any  ecclesiastical  polity  that  there  shall  be  therefore  per- 
petual life  ;  and  there  is  nothing  in  any  one  polity  that  can 
quicken  a  dead  church  when  once  it  is  dead.  The  life  of 
the  church  is  communicated  from  Christ ;  but  the  church 
unfolded  in  detail,  and  the  government  of  the  church,  is  not 
for  giving  life,  but  for  enabling  the  church  as  a  church  more 
efficiently  to  affect  the  -world,  and  extend  and  spread  itself 
over  all  the  earth,  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  even  to  the 
going  down  of  the  same.  And  if  this  be  true,  if  our  hearts 
be  right,  Ave  should  rejoice  ever  as  a  true  Christian  is 
brought  out  of  the  world,  even  should  it  be  by  an  instru- 
mentality we  do  not  prefer.  I  may  like  very  much  that  all 
men  would  join  the  communion  I  prefer,  and  become  mem- 
bers of  it ;  but  if  that  liking  become  so  strong  that  I  am 
grieved  when  a  soul  is  converted  by  a  brother  in  another 
communion,  my  Christianity  cannot  be  of  great  depth.  A 
larger  view  will  show  that  wherever  a  true  believer  is  made, 
wherever  one  is  translated  from  the  world  into  the  kingdom 
of  God's  dear  Son,  he  becomes  a  brother  to  me  ;  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  universal  church  :  and  am  I  so  narrow-minded, 
that  because  he  cannot  accept  the  forms  and  the  polity  that 
I  prefer,  I  must  therefore  be  grieved  ?  God  forbid  that  it 
should  be  so !  All  sections  of  the  churcli  are  engaged  in 
the  same  work,  they  are  busy  in  the  same  magnificent  en- 
terprise ;  and  I  shall  rejoice,  and  will  rejoice,  wherever  a 
soul  is  born  again,  whether  that  soul  adopts  an  Episcopal,  a 
Presbyterial,  or  an  Independent  communion.  The  great 
triumph  is,  that  Satan  has  lost  a  victim,  that  God  has  gained 
a  son ;  and  even  if  my  communion  suffer,  and  another  com- 
munion is  extended,  thanks,  and  glory,  and  blessing,  be  to 
God  for  converted  souls  ;  not  envy,  and  jealousy,  and  rivalry 
on  my  part. 

I  have  spoken  heretofore  of  a  visible  body.     Our  Blessed 
Lord,  in  this  passage,  speaks  of  true  unity :  "  That  they  all 


JOHN    XVII.  337 

may  be  one  ;  even  as  thou,  Father,  art  in  nie,  and  I  in  thee." 
But  first  of  all,  in  speaking  of  this  unity,  I  will  ask,  what  it 
is  that  constitutes  the  unity  of  this  body,  "  that  they  all  may 
be  one  ?  "  I  answer,  Not  in  all  possessing  the  same  degree 
of  intellectual  acquaintance  or  metaphysical  scholarshi])  in 
the  truths  of  the  Gospel.  In  any  congregation  there  is  the 
greatest  variety  of  knowledge.  One  man  has  the  Bible  — 
to  use  a  common  expression  —  at  his  finger-ends  ;  another 
man  can  scarcely  quote  a  text  without  blundering ;  but  both, 
notwithstanding,  may  be  true  Christians,  both  united  to 
Christ,  and  therefore  brethren.  It  is  not,  in  the  second 
place,  perfect  agreement  about  every  revealed  truth  if  we 
agree  in  the  great  essential  ones.  One  man  believes  that 
Chyist  died  for  all ;  another  believes  that  Christ  died  only 
for  the  elect ;  both  may  nevertheless  be  true  Christians. 
One  man  believes  in  Christ's  personal  advent  previous  to 
the  millennium ;  another  man  believes  that  the  millenniuni 
will  come  first,  and  Christ  come  last ;  both  nevertheless  may 
be  true  Chi-istians.  We  cannot  therefore  assert  that  the 
unity  of  the  church  consists  in  our  all  agreeing  about  every 
shade  of  doctrine  revealed  in  the  Bible.  And  in  the  n'ext 
place,  this  unity  cannot  consist  in  mere  outward  coalescence 
by  ecclesiastical  authority.  Ecclesiastical  authority  can  put 
down  disagreement,  but  it  cannot  root  out  disagreement.  It 
may  conceal  the  discord,  but  it  cannot  quench  it.  And 
therefore  no  external  force  Can  make  true  unity  in  the 
church  of  Christ ;  and  certainly  the  old  Pagan  prescription 
of  Rome  will  not  do  it  —  ignorance  we  shall  find  to  be  the 
mother  of  division,  not  the  atmosi^here  of  true  unity.  Of 
course,  when  everybody  is  blind,  and  no  one  sees  the  discord, 
there  will  be  no  dispute  ;  but  to  make  it  a  condition  of  unity, 
that  you  shall  put  your  eyes  out,  is,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  a 
very  severe  one.  Besides,  the  Book  that  speaks  of  Chris- 
tians as  the  children  of  light,  speaks  of  a  body  of  persons 
who  will  not,  for  the  sake  of  an  imaginary  unity,  give  up 
29 


338  SCRIPTURE     READINGS. 

the  light  that  they  have.  In  one  word,  this  unity  does  not 
proceed  from  without  at  all.  Man  can  ci'eate  uniformity ; 
God  alone  can  inspire  unity.  Uniformity  is  outward  I'esem- 
blance,  which  the  scissors  or  the  pencil  can  create ;  but 
unity  is  inward  concord,  which  the  Holy  Ghost  alone  can 
give.  An  Episcopalian  and  an  Independent  may  be  per- 
fectly united,  and  yet  outwardly  differ.  Two  Episcopalians 
may  outwardly  be  like  each  other  as  if  the  one  was  the  re- 
flection of  the  other,  and  yet  there  may  be  no  unity  at  all. 
It  is  not  external  likeness,  but  internal  harmony  and  con- 
cord. Then  the  basis  of  such  unity  as  Christ  speaks  of 
here  must  be  the  acceptance  of  certain  great  truths  that  are 
constantly  referred  to  throughout  the  Bible.  It  is  impossi- 
ble to  read  the  Bible  without  seeing  that  there  are  certain 
truths  that  stand  up  like  the  Alps  themselves,  jutting  out 
from  the  ordinary  level,  rising  above  every  thing  beside, 
prominent,  distinct,  unmistakable.  The  Godhead  of  the 
Father,  the  Godhead  of  the  Son,  the  Godhead  of  the  Holy 
Ghost :  and  yet  one  God  :  justification  by  Christ's  righteous- 
ness through  faith :  sanctification  by  the  Holy  Ghost :  these 
are  truths  that  people  can  scarcely  overlook ;  that  no  im- 
partial reader,  I  think,  can  misapprehend.  And  those  that 
have  been  Unitarians,  have  been  found,  when  they  come 
to  look  more  closely,  and  in  a  more  reverential  light,  unable 
to  continue  so.  I  made  the  remark  somewhere  a  short  time 
back,  that  Dr.  Channing  died  renouncing  his  Socinianism. 
A  Unitarian  minister  at  Bristol  wrote  a  letter  to  the  papers 
denying  that  there  was  any  truth  in  it.  I  had  taken  the 
statement  from  an  American  newspaper ;  but  this  made  me 
search.  I  went  into  a  shop  and  got  the  "  Life  of  Channing, 
written  by  his  nephew."  Channing  was  the  most  beautiful 
mind,  the  most  accomplished  writer,  that  I  know ;  and  such 
a  writer,  so  brilliant,  so  beautiful,  so  amiable,  so  overflowing 
with  love,  I  have  often  earnestly  desired  might  die  loving 
and  resting  on  Christ  as  the  Son  of  God.     Well,  to  my  de- 


JOHN   XVII.  339 

light,  when  I  searched  his  biography  I  found  these  words 
spoken  by  him  on  liis  death-bed,  —  "  The  longer  that  I  live 
the  less  trust  I  feel  in  Unitarianism.  I  have  no  sympathy 
■with  Unitarianism  whatever.  I  have  nothing  in  common 
Avith  Priestley  and  with  Benthain."  These  were  the  senti- 
ments of  one  whose  great  mind  was  sick  of  the  dry  and 
drivelling  Unitarianism  of  the  men  that  he  refers  to ;  and 
felt  what  he  fouml,  that  there  was  only  rest  in  a  sacrifice 
that  God  in  our  nature  made  for  our  sins. 

These  great  truths  then  are  so  clear,  plain,  striking,  that 
one  can  scarcely  mistake  them.  There  must  be,  therefore, 
to  have  perfect  peace,  the  acceptance  of  these  truths ;  and 
not  only  the  acceptance  of  these  truths,  but  of  every  true 
believer  as  a  member  of  the  same  body.  I  think  it  is  im- 
possible, at  least  it  is  barely  possible,  not  to  see  that  every 
Christian  —  and  it  would  be  a  very  interesting  study  — 
from  the  days  of  Adam  downward  to  the  present  hour,  had 
cei-tain  grand  generic  marks,  and  features,  and  characteris- 
tics, that  indicate  one  family  and  one  brotherhood.  Enoch 
walked  with  God,  against  the  current  of  the  world.  That  is 
a  Clij-istian's  Avalk  still.  Take  Abraham  —  listen  to  his  in- 
tercession for  Sodom ;  notice  his  going  forth  he  knew  not 
whither,  to  a  land  that  God  should  show  him.  Notice  his 
giving  up,  and  readiness  to  sacrifice  his  son,  his  only  son 
Isaac,  at  God's  bidding.  Do  you  not  see  in  these  moral 
traits  the  great  generic  traits  of  every  true  Christian? 
Take  Moses  —  when  he  chose  rather  to  suiFer  with  the 
people  of  God  than  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  sea- 
son. Tiiat  man  must  have  been  a  Christian  ;  for  his  is  a 
Christian  feature.  Mark  the  fearless  devotedness  of  Knox, 
the  intrepidity  of  Luther,  the  boldness  of  Cranraer,  the  gen- 
tleness of  Melanchthon,  the  faithfulness  of  Ridley.  Or  come 
down  to  excellent  ministers  and  Christians  in  later  days. 
Take  Bunyan,  Baxter,  or  Wesley ;  and  you  will  see  in  all 
these  men  grand  generic  features  that  they  had  in  common, 


340  SCRIPTURE     READINGS. 

developed  in  different  circumstances,  in  spite  of  different  re- 
straints ;  which  demonstrate  to  tlie  impartial  spectator  that 
they  belong  to  one  great  family,  the  company  of  Christ, 
and  were  one  in  Christ,  and  brethren  one  therefore  with 
another. 

But  this  unity  that  I  have  spoken  of  is  not  to  be  realized 
in  all  its  perfection  in  this  present  dispensation.  The  apos- 
tle himself  says,  "Till  we  all  come  in  the  unity  of  the  faith 
and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God  ; "  and,  He  gave 
pastors,  teachers,  and  evangelists  for  this ;  showing  that 
there  will  not  be  perfect  unity  whilst  pastoi'S,  evangelists, 
and  teachers  are  in  the  world.  And  let  us  not  forget,  that 
the  day  of  knowledge,  as  far  as  it  is  inspired,  is  gone ;  tlie 
day  of  faith,  as  far  as  it  was  miraculous,  is  also  gone ;  but 
the  day  of  love  continues  with  brightening  beams,  shining 
more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day.  If  the  w^orld  can  say, 
what  we  are  responsible  for  its  not  saying,  "  Behold,  how 
these  Christians  love  one  another,"  depend  upon  it  the  world 
will  see  that  there  is  divinity  in  Christ's  mission ;  and  it  will 
be  convinced,  in  the  language  of  this  chapter,  that  Christ 
hath  sent  us.  The  longer  I  live  the  less  I  am  dispo|ed  to 
sympathize  with  ecclesiastical  quarrels ;  as  long  as  I  can 
preach  the  Gospel,  and  live  the  Gospel  in  a  church  to  which 
I  have  been  accustomed,  so  long  it  would  be,  with  my  feel- 
ings, schism  to  depart  from  it.  There  is  such  a  deplorable 
tendency  in  men  who  get  a  little  uneasy  to  try  and  set  up 
new  machinery ;  while  it  would  be  more  dutiful,  though  it 
would  require  more  struggle,  to  remain,  and  try  and  improve 
and  inspire  the  old.  It  is  not  new  machines  that  we  want, 
but  new  inspiration  in  the  old.  The  worst  of  churches  with 
good  men  to  work  it  will  be  a  blessing ;  the  best  of  churches 
Avith  bad  men  in  it  will  only  be  a  curse.  Let  us  look  upon 
all  our  churches  and  denominations  as  many  different  chap- 
els in  the  same  grand  cathedral,  under  the  same  great  roof, 
in  which  each  worships  God  in  his  own  tongue  wherein  he 


«  joiix    XVII.  341 

was  born :  but  in  the  worship  of  each  Christ  is  the  key-note, 
the  all  and  in  all. 

May  God  bless  what  I  have  said  to  our  increase  in  grace 
and  purity ;  and  to  his  name  be  praise  and  glory !     Amen. 


Note.  —  [Ver.  2.]  But  in  this  wide  gift  there  is  a  more  special  gift, 
— o  6edo)Kac  avrC)  in  the  stricter  sense,  —  the  chosen,  tliey  who  believe 
on  him.  And  to  them,  and  them  only,  he  imparts  the  further  and  in- 
effable gift  consequent  on  union  with  him  their  God  in  the  Spirit, 
namely,  etei-nal  life  (compare  v.  26,  27  ;  also  vi.  37). 

[5.]  See  a  similar  definition  of  a  term  just  used  in  ch.  iii.  19,  kanv 
"  is  ; "  not,  "  is  the  way  to."  The  knowledge  spoken  of  is  no  more 
head  or  heart  knowledge,  —  the  mere  information  of  the  mind,  or  ex- 
citation of  the  feelings,  —  but  the  living  reality  of  knowledge  and 
personal  realization  ;  that  oneness  in  will  with  God,  and  partaking  of 
his  nature,  which  is  itself  life  eternal ;  the  knowledge,  love,  enjoy- 
ment of  him,  who  is  infinite,  being  themselves  infinite.  —  Alford. 


29 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

JUDAS. THE  QUESTION  OF  JESUS. THE  EFFECT  OF  THE  PEESENCE 

OF  CHRIST.  —  Peter's  rashness.  —  anger.  —  caiaphas.  —  Pe- 
ter's  DENIAL. PILATE. THE   MOB. TRUTH. 

What  an  interesting  and  impressive  portrait  is  here 
sketched  by  the  pen  of  the  sacred  evangelist ;  a  portrait  so 
just  in  all  its  details,  so  natural  in  its  very  first  impression 
upon  all  that  look  at  it,  that  it  is  impossible  to  conclude  that 
it  is  not  a  sketch  from  a  living  original  present  at  the  time 
it  was  draAvn  up,  and  who  is  there  not  sitting,  but  standing 
a  criminal  at  the  bar,  that  the  evangelist  might  thus  give 
the  portrait ! 

It  appears  in  the  commencement  of  the  chapter,  that 
Judas,  one  of  the  twelve,  chosen  to  be  an  apostle,  intrusted 
with  the  little  all  of  that  holy  but  helpless  group,  betrayed 
the  sacred  responsibilities  of  his  office,  giving  full  swing  to 
that  avarice  which  began  slightly,  grew  as  it  was  encour- 
f%iid,  and  ultimately  endedin  the  betrayal  —  the  guilty,  the 
criminal,  the  unforgiving  betrayal  —  of  the  Son  of  God 
into  the  hands  of  the  chief  priests  and  the  Pharisees.  "  He 
having  received  a  band  of  men  and  officers  from  the  chief 
priests  and  Pharisees,"  came  to  him,  and  pointed  him  out. 
Then  Jesus  went  forth,  and  with  all  the  magnanimity  of  con- 
scious innocence,  courting  investigation,  defying  criminality, 
said,  "  Whom  seek  ye  ? "  They  answered  him  at  once, 
"  Jesus  of  Nazareth."  Then  Jesus  instantly  replied,  "  I  am 
he ;  "  that  is,  I  am  the  person  you  seek.  When  the  crowd 
came  to  Jesus  as  he  approached  Jerusalem  on  a  former  oc- 

(342) 


*  JOHN  XVIII.  343 

casion,  and  tried  to  enthrone  him  as  a  king,  it  is  said  he  left 
them  and  retired  into  the  shadow ;  but  when  the  crowd 
came  to  crucify  him  as  a  criminal  he  boldly  confronted 
them,  and  was  led  like  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,  and  "  as  a 
sheep  before  her  shearers  is  dumb,  so  he  opened  not  his 
mouth."  They  asked  him  again,  "  Who  art  thou  ?  "  and  he 
answered  again,  "  I  am  he  ; "  and  when  he  answered  the 
second  time,  "■  I  am  he,"  they  went  backwards  and  fell  to 
the  ground.  I  do  not  believe  that  this  was  a  miracle  spon- 
taneously wrought  by  Jesus  ;  but  that  the  awful  majesty  of 
that  lonely  man,  the  mighty  force  of  truth  and  innocence, 
and  life  and  love,  so  struck  the  infuriated  crowd,  that  the 
very  weapons  dropped  from  their  hands,  and  they  fell  pros- 
trate on  the  ground.  We  all  know  that  there  is  a  nobler 
force  than  weapons  and  swords  and  artilleiy  represent  ■ — 
the  force  of  moral  excellence,  the  might  of  conscious  inno- 
cence, the  dignity  of  true  and  celestial  virtue.  And  that 
spectacle  of  One  who  spake  as  never  man  spake,  did  as 
never  man  did,  and  lived  as  never  man  lived,  and  made 
an  impression  upon  the  crowd  that  struck  dumb,  though 
it  could  not  sanctify,  and  arrested,  though  it  could  not 
prevent. 

Simon  Peter  —  always  the  same  character  throughout  — 
drew  a  sword,  and  smote  the  high-priest's  servant,  and  cut 
off  his  ear^  You  must  have  noticed  in  the  course  of  our 
readings  on  these  most  precious  Gospels,  how  completely 
the  character  of  each  individual  is  kept  up  from  the  first  to 
the  last ;  and  kept  up  in  such  a  way  as  no  novelist  could 
have  kept  it  up,  for  evidently  the  incidental  expressions, 
which  were  not  designed  to  show  the  identity  of  the  char- 
acter, drop  out  here  and  there,  which  show  that  Peter  was 
a  real  person ;  the  rash,  the  impetuous,  the  headstrong ; 
always  first  to  strike,  and  alas !  one  of  the  first  to  retreat 
and  deny  his  Master ;  not,  mark  you,  from  deliberate  wick- 
edness —  for  that  was  not  Peter's  character  —  but  just  from 


344  SCRIPTURE    RKADINGS. 

turbulent  and  impetuous  passions,  unrestrained  in  childhood, 
and  ungovernable  probably  in  manhood.  We  contrast  with 
Peter  the  amiable,  the  meek,  the  mild  John,  and  -we  think 
•when  we  see  them  both  that  the  one  was  all  Christianity, 
and  the  other  none.  But  it  may  be  that  Peter  had  a  more 
terx'ible  inner  work  than  John  had.  John  had  constitution- 
ally an  amiable,  and  gentle,  and  peaceful  spirit ;  nature  gave 
him  that ;  it  was  sanctified  and  ennobled  by  grace,  it  is  true  : 
Peter  had  an  intractable,  a  fierce,  and  impetuous  tempera- 
ment ;  and  he  had  much  to  sacrifice  by  grace  ;  and  after 
Pentecost  he  was  only  able  by  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
sanctify  and  subdue  it.  But  yet  the  impetuous  passion  is 
not  always  a  sign  of  the  worst  character.  Judas  never 
lost  his  temper  from  the  beginning  to  the  end ;  he  was  a 
deep,  crafty,  designing  sinner ;  and  never  once  did  he  lose 
his  temper,  never  once  said  a  rash  word,  or  one  that  did  not 
go  to  the  end  he  had  in  view.  Peter,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  all  impetuosity,  temper,  rashness ;  but  he  was  consti- 
tutionally a  noble  character,  passionate  as  he  was :  Judas 
was  constitutionally  an  abandoned  character,  cautious,  and 
careful,  and  prudent,  if  I  may  use  that  word,  as  he  was. 
We  must  not  therefore  think  that  a  person  with  a  hot  tem- 
per is  not  a  Christian ;  nor  must  we  think  —  as  I  have 
stated  to  you,  I  think,  in  the  course  of  my  expositions  of 
these  Gospels  before  —  that  anger  is  a  sin.  Adam  in  Para- 
dise may  have  been  angry  ;  and  Eve  may  have  seen  some- 
thing in  the  garden  not  to  her  taste  that  made  her  angry. 
We  were  made  to  be  angry ;  the  regulation  of  it  is  the 
great  thing.  "  Be  ye  angry,  but  sin  not :  let  not  the  sun  go 
down  upon  your  wrath."  As  long  as  Eve  retained  her 
innocence  and  Adam  his  allegiance  to  God,  their  anger  was 
only  a  transient  spark  struck  out,  and  no  sooner  kindled 
than  it  was  quenched ;  but  when  Adam  and  Eve  lost  their 
innocence  and  were  cast  out  from  God,  I  have  not  the  least 
doubt  that  their  quarrels  lasted  after  sunset,  and  the  sun 


JOHN  XVIII.  345 

■went  down  upon  their  wrath.  But  we  must  not  form  a  severe 
opinion  of  Peter  because  Peter  was  passionate ;  but  feel 
as  a  counterbahince  how  much  Peter  had  to  contend  with. 
However,  here  Peter's  passion  went  further  than  words ; 
and  thus  there  was  great  peril.  He  drew  his  sword,  and  smote 
the  servant  of  the  high-priest.  This  indicated  a  fine  feel- 
ing ;  it  was  his  deep  love  to  his  Master,  it  was  his  hatred  of 
the  conduct  of  those  that  assailed  him.  But  then  he  ought 
to  have  remembered,  "  The  weapons  of  our  warfare  are  not 
carnal,  but  mighty."  I  wish  only  that  the  long  list  of  men 
that  profess  to  have  Peter's  succession  had  inherited  better 
traits  in  their  succession  than  drawing  the  sword  and  smit- 
ing those  that  differ  with  them.  Our  blessed  Lord  instantly 
healed  the  wound  tliat  Peter  had  made  ;  and  told  Peter, 
"  Put  up  thy  sword  into  the  sheath."  And  then,  evidently 
in  reference  to  his  agony  in  Gethsemane,  not  recorded  in 
this  Gospel,  he  says,  "  The  cup  which  my  Father  hath 
given  me,  shall  I  not  drink  it  ?  "  Just  notice  the  conduct 
of  Jesus  all  throughout ;  how  calm,  how  self-possessed,  how 
little  ruffled  by  any  thing  that  occurred  !  Now  just  suppose 
that  all  these  writers  —  Matthew,  a  vulgar  tax-gatherer ; 
Luke,  a  physician ;  John,  a  rude,  rough  fisherman ;  and 
Mark,  an  ordinary  personage,  some  think  more  learned  — 
suppose  these  four  persons  had  written  these  Gospels,  is  it 
possible  to  conceive  that  they  could  have  sketched  a  char- 
acter so  faultless  at  all  points,  —  so  perfect,  seen  at  every  an- 
gle, —  so  complete,  looked  at  in  every  position,  in  every 
place,  under  every  ti-ial,  in  all  circumstances,  —  so  spotless? 
■ —  is  it  possible  that  in  an  age  when  Plato  could  not  sketch 
Socrates,  when  Xenophon  could  not  give  a  true  picture  of 
the  perfect  man  that  would  bear  inspection,  that  these  rude 
men,  in  a  province  of  the  empire  —  not  Athenian,  not  Co- 
rinthian, not  Roman  —  but  in  a  distant  province  of  the  em- 
pire, never  having  any  jesthetic  exhibitions  to  elevate  them, 
no  crystal  palaces,  no  fine  statues,  no  beautiful  paintings, 


34G  SCRIPTURE    RKADIXGS. 

nothing  to  cultivate  their  taste,  —  is  it  possible  to  conceive 
they  could  have  sketched  such  a  character?  I  say,  the 
infidel  who  disbelieves  the  inspiration  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  guilty  of  a  credulity  that  no  language  of  mine 
can  express ;  and  he  that  believes  it  to  be  the  inspiration 
of  God  is  guilty  of  a  common  sense  that  falls  in  with  Chris- 
tianity itself. 

After  this,  Ave  read  that  Peter  and  John  both  followed. 
It  says  in  the  15th  verse, "  Simon  Peter  followed  Jesus,  and 
so  did  another  disciple  :  that  disciple  was  known  unto  the 
high-priest."  Whenever  John  alludes  to  himself  you  will 
find  him  omitting  his  own  name ;  he  is  always  "  the  disciple 
whom  Jesus  loved  ; "  or  "  that  other  disciple  ;  "  the  utter 
absence  of  egoism  or  egotism,  the  perfect  sinking  into  the 
shadow,  that  nothing  might  darken  the  glory  of  the  blessed 
Master.  "  But  Peter  stood  at  the  door  without."  There 
was  something  here  to  be  said  of  John  ;  and  therefore  John 
omits  his  name,  lest  it  should  be  thought  he  wanted  to  praise 
himself.  It  says,  "  That  disciple  was  known  unto  the  high- 
priest,  and  went  in  with  Jesus  into  the  palace  of  the  high- 
priest  ; "  and  that  was  his  safety :  his  very  boldness  was 
his  safety.  But  Peter,  who  thought  it  was  too  dangerous  or 
too  daring  to  go  into  the  very  palace  of  the  high-priest, 
stood  at  the  door  without,  listening  at  the  door  what  might 
occur,  balancing  the  chances  of  success,  of  escape,  or  of  the 
reverse.  And  what  was  the  consequence  ?  That  he  that 
did  his  duty,  and  went  into  the  forefront  of  the  battle, 
escaped  unscathed  ;  and  the  coward  that  lurked  behind  had 
the  awful  recollection  that  he  denied  his  blessed  Master. 
Where  duty  bids  us  go  there  safety  is  complete,  and  expe- 
diency prompted  by  our  own  passions  is  not  always  the  truest 
or  the  highest  safety.  And  accordingly,  Avhen  Peter  is 
asked,  not  by  a  judge  upon  the  bench  that  might  awe  him, 
not  by  soldiers  with  weapons  in  their  hands  ;  but  by  the 
maid  that  kept  the  door,  "  Art  thou  one  of  them  ?  "  Peter 


JOHN  XVIII.  347 

answered,  *'  I  am  not  "  —  a  direct  and  deliberate  lie.  I  do 
not  believe  that  Peter  designed  to  deny  his  Master;  but  just 
as  his  passions  so  overcame  him  that  he  smote  off  the  ser- 
vant's ear,  so  his  fears  so  overcame  him  now  that  he  denies 
the  blessed  Master  himself. 

Then  "  the  high-priest  asked  Jesus  of  his  disciples  "  — 
that  is,  who  they  were  —  "  and  of  his  doctrine  ; "  not  doc- 
trine in  the  sense  of  tenet,  as  we  often  employ  it ;  but  doc- 
trine in  the  sense  of  teaching  —  what  his  teaching  was. 
Then  Jesus  said,  "  I  spoke  openly  to  the  world."  This  was 
not  said  as  a  retort ;  but  simply,  I  spoke  openly,  that  is,  I 
have  not  an  esoteric  and  an  exoteric  teaching  like  the  Greek 
philosophers.  All  that  I  speak  is  for  anybody  ;  there  is  not 
one  lesson  for  the  clergy,  and  another  for  the  laity  —  one 
for  the  pi'iest,  and  another  for  the  people ;  but  one  for  all. 
"  Why  askest  thou  me  ?  "  When  he  had  thus  spoken,  we 
read  that  "  one  of  the  officers  which  stood  by  struck  Jesus 
with  the  palm  of  his  hand,  saying,  Answerest  thou  the  high- 
priest  so  ?  "  There  was  nothing  in  the  reply  of  Jesus  dis- 
courteous ;  there  was  nothing  but  a  plain,  simple,  clear  state- 
ment of  doctrines  of  vast  importance.  Well  then,  how  did 
Jesus  meet  this  ?  He  said,  "  If  I  have  spoken  evil,  bear 
witness  of  the  evil :  but  if  well,  why  smitest  thou  me  ?  " 
Now  I  think  there  is  in  this  reply  of  Jesus  a  perfect  exam- 
ple of  a  commentary  on  a  verse  sometimes  misapprehended  ; 
namely,  Matthew  v.  39  —  "  But  I  say  unto  you,  that  ye  re- 
sist not  evil :  but  whosoever  shall  smite  thee  on  the  right 
cheek,  turn  to  him  the  other  also."  Now  that  must  be  ex- 
plained in  the  light  of  the  example  of  Him  who  uttered  it ; 
and  you  find  here  that  when  Jesus  Avas  smitten,  he  remon- 
strated ;  he  asked  for  a  reason ;  and  he  showed  there  was 
none,  and  that  therefore  the  smiting  of  him  was  not  only  un- 
just, but  unreasonable  and  unfair.  And  therefore  we  are 
not  to  be  absolutely  passive  and  submit  to  injury  when  there 
is  an  opportunity  of  defending  oui'selves ;  but  on  the  con- 


348  sciurTURE  kkadixgs. 

traiy,  we  are  to  employ  every  lawful  means  of  vindicating 
character  assailed,  of  repelling  an  assault  that  is  unpro- 
voked, and  shielding  us  and  ours  from  them  that  would  take 
away  the  blessings  and  privileges  of  both. 

We  read  next,  that  after  Peter  had  three  times  denied  bis 
Master,  the  cock  crew  according  to  the  prophecy,  a  signal  to 
him  of  his  sin.  The  sequel  of  what  occurred  iu  the  history 
of  Peter  is  not  given  in  this  Gospel. 

After  this,  they  led  Jesus  from  Caiaphas  to  the  hall  of 
judgment ;  and  Pilate  therefore  asked,  "  What  accusation 
bring  ye  against  this  man  ?  "  Now  they  answered  Pilate 
with  real  impertinence  —  the  very  thing  they  had  imputed 
to  Jesus  — "  If  he  were  not  a  malefactor,  w-e  would  not 
have  delivered  him  up  unto  thee."  Now  they  ought  to 
have  answered,  they  had  a  reason  for  it.  Then  Pilate  said, 
"Take  ye  him,  and  judge  him."  Let  us  watch  the  whole 
history  of  Pilate :  it  is,  I  think,  the  most  pitiful  specimen  of 
royal  rule,  as  some  think  —  for  he  was  a  governor  and  ruler 
of  the  province  —  contained  in  any  narrative.  He  believed 
from  first  to  last  that  Jesus  was  an  innocent  being.  You  re- 
member his  washing  his  hands  ;  his  wife  telling  him  that  she 
had  had  a  dream,  and  not  to  dare  to  touch  that  just  man. 
You  find  him  first  stating,  "  I  find  no  fault  in  him  ;  "  you  find 
him  next  asking  the  Jews  to  take  the  responsibility  of  deal- 
ing with  him  ;  afterward  proposing  to  crucify  another  person, 
and  to  let  Jesus  go ;  but  all  in  vain.  Now,  if  he  had  been  a 
ruler  worthy  of  the  name,  he  would  have  done  his  duty, 
and  let  the  innocent  go  at  all  hazards.  But  he  was  one  of 
those  rulers  who  have  no  fixed  principles  ;  men  that  first 
feel  the  pulse  of  their  superiors,  then  they  feel  the  pulse  of 
the  crowd.  They  first  listen  to  the  opinion  of  some  great 
man,  then  to  the  opinions  of  some  great  crowd ;  and  they 
vacillate  between  right  and  left,  between  conscience  and  pas- 
sion, between  duty  and  expediency ;  and  the  issue  of  it  is 
ruin  to  themselves,  and  disaster  to  their  country.     This  was 


joiix  xvirr.  349 

exactly  the  character  of  Pilate.  lie  listened  first  to  the  mob, 
and  said,  "  Well,  I  must  not  despise  the  people ;  they  can 
upset  me.  If  I  become  unpopular,  then  Caesar  at  Rome 
will  depose  me ;  I  must  at  all  hazards  gratify  the  crowd." 
Then  he  said  on  the  other  hand,  ''If  I  do  not  let  this  man  go, 
my  conscience  will  torment  me  through  life ;  for  I  am  satis- 
fied he  is  an  innocent  man."  I  have  no  doubt  the  bitterness 
that  poor  man,  Pilate,  endured  was  most  awful.  lie  had 
the  de(!pest  conviction  that  Jesus  was  innocent ;  he  had  the 
most  thorough  fear  of  the  crowd ;  and  alas,  alas !  he  gave 
way  to  convenience ;  his  conscience  was  put  in  the  back- 
ground ;  and  the  tumultuous  plaudits  of  a  restless  and  vacil- 
lating mob  became  the  laws  and  government  of  his  life. 
The  issue  of  it  was  disastrous  to  himself,  and  no  doubt  tor- 
ture to  his  feelings  in  after-life.  Of  this  we  have  no  record. 
"  Then  Pilate  said  to  Jesus,  Art  thou  the  King  of  the 
Jews  ?  Jesus  answered  him,  Sayest  thou  this  thing  of  thy- 
self, or  did  others  tell  it  thee  of  me  ? "  Do  you  wish  to 
charge  me  with  being  so  ;  do  you  propose  the  question  of  your- 
self, or  are  you  acting  in  your  official  character,  and  putting 
the  question  to  me  in  order  to  criminate  me  ?  "  Pilate  an- 
swered. Am  I  a  Jew  ?  "  I  know  nothing  of  your  religious 
questions  or  your  ecclesiastical  disputes.  These  are  matters 
for  you.  I  am  a  ruler,  and  rule  without  religion,  and  do  not 
wish  to  be  teased  in  my  government  with  religious  questions. 
Your  own  nation  has  delivered  you  unto  me ;  what  hast 
thou  done  ?  "  Jesus  answered.  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this 
world  ;  "  it  is  not  a  kingdom  fenced  by  bayonets  ;  it  is  not  a 
throne  surrounded  by  soldiers  ;  it  is  not  like  Roman  Caesar's  ; 
I  have  not  a  crown  like  his  ;  "  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this 
world  ; "  if  it  were  so,  then  by  physical  force  I  should  defend 
myself,  and  by  physical  force  I  should  prevail.  "  But  now 
my  kingdom  is  not  from  hence."  His  kingdom  will 
come  down  from  above,  the  new  Jerusalem  cometh  down 
from  heaven  like  a  bride  adorned  for  the  bridegroom.     Then 

30 


350  SCKIPTUKE    KEA.UINGS. 

Pilate  said,  "  Art  thuu  then  a  king  ?  "  —  that  is,  Is  there  any 
sense  in  which  you  are  so  ?  Jesus  said,  "  I  am  ;  "  the  plu-ase, 
"  Thou  sayest  that  I  am  a  king,"  is  equivalent  to  and  denotes, 
"I  am  just  what  thou  sayest."  "To  this  end  was  I  born, 
and  for  this  cause  came  I  into  the  world,  that  I  should  bear 
witness  unto  the  truth."  He  is  a  king  now  in  a  sense  that 
is  not  seen  ;  ruling  in  individual  hearts  ;  ruling  in  Provi- 
dence ;  restraining,  governing,  and  directing.  But  a  day 
comes  when  his  own  company  will  be  complete,  when  the 
hidden  thing  shall  be  made  the  manifest  thing ;  and  he  shall 
come  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  with  power  and  great  glory. 

When  Pilate  heard  the  mention  of  truth,  he  asked  the 
question,  "  What  is  truth  ?  "  Now  what  a  pity  he  did  not 
wait  for  an  answer  !  But  how  many  persons  are  guilty  of  a 
plagiarism  from  Pontius  Pilate  ;  they  ask,  "  What  is  truth  ?  " 
but  do  not  search  to  find  it,  or  wait  for  a  reply  that  will  sat- 
isfy their  curiosity.  "■  But  ye  have  a  custom,"  Pilate  says 
to  the  people,  "That  I  should  release  unto  you  one  at  the 
passover  :  will  ye  therefore"  —  his  own  feeling  overcoming 
him  —  "  that  I  release  unto  you  the  king  of  the  Jews  ? " 
Now  mark  what  an  awful  spectacle ;  the  whole  crowd  shouted, 
"  Not  this  man,"  but  release  in  his  stead  a  thief  and  a  robber. 

In  St.  Giles'  Old  Cathedi-al  in  Edinburgh,  Dr.  Blair  was 
the  morning  preacher  —  one  of  those  high  and  diy,  or,  as 
we  call  them  in  Scotland,  "  moderate  "  but  elegant  preachers, 
who  do  not  preach  the  Gospel,  and  not  very  much  of  the 
Law.  But  the  afternoon  preacher  was  Mr.  Wallier,  whose 
sermons  still  show  that  he  was  a  faithful  and  evangelical 
minister.  Dr.  Blair  preached  one  morning ;  and  gave  one 
of  those  exquisitely  classic  and  beautiful  gems  —  a  picture 
of  the  beauty,  the  majesty,  and  grandeur  of  truth ;  and  he 
said,  "  So  grand  and  impressive  is  truth,  that  if  truth  w^ere  to 
come  down  to  our  world,  the  whole  world  struck  by  its 
charms  would  instantly  give  truth  the  adoration  and  wor- 
ship that  was  due." 


JOHN  XVIII.  351 

IMr.  Walker  proaclied  in  the  afternoon  ;  and  lie  said,  "  My 
reverend  colleague  has  said" — though  it  was  not  his  habit 
to  contradict  —  "  that  if  truth  were  to  appear  upon  earth  all 
men  would  give  truth  worship."  He  said,  My  dear  parisli- 
oners,  truth  appeared  in  our  world  ;  the  experiment  does  not 
remain  to  be  made.  But  instead  of  all  the  world  givinu 
worship  to  truth,  it  shouted  with  one  voice,  '  Not  this  man, 
but  Barabbas.     Now  Barabbas  was  a  thief  and  a  robber.'  " 


Note.  —  [1.]  TiJv  KsSpuv  "of  the  cedars,"  has  apparently  been  a 
mistaken  rendering  of  the  Hebrew  name  of  the  brook,  I'il'ip ;  to  whom 
due  is  not  plain.  "We  may,  however,  be  quite  sure  that  it  would  not 
be  owing  to  John  himself,  but  to  some  Greek  transcriber  unacquainted 
with  Palestine.  Josephus  calls  it  x^^^  Ke^pcJvo^  or  6upay$  Kedpuvo^, 
Antt.  viii.  15  ;  i.\.  7.  3.  (See  2  Sam.  xv.  23  ;  2  Kings  xiii.  6.)  The 
ravine,  at  the  bottom  of  which  flows  the  Kedron,  is  to  the  east  of  Jeru- 
salem, between  the  city  and  the  Mount  of  Olives. 

[ujTTo^.\  Jiicke  suggests  that  the  owner  of  this  garden  may  have  been 
friendly  to  (or  a  disciple  of?)  Jesus.  It  was  called  Gethsemane  (Matt. ; 
Mark).  Traditions  as  to  its  site  are,  as  usual,  various.  A  square  plot 
of  ground  in  the  depth  of  the  ravine  is  now  pointed  out,  and  seems  to 
have  been  fixed  on  at  the  time  when  the  Empress  Helena  visited  Jeru- 
salem, A.  D.  326.  Euscbius  says  Gethsemane  was  by  the  Mount  of 
Olives,  Jerome,  at  the  foot  of  the  mount.  The  language  of  Luke  xxi. 
37,  leads  to  a  belief  that  it  was  higher  up  the  Mount.  Eobiuson,  i. 
S'iG.  —  Alford. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

DEATH  OF  JESUS. PILATE. CROWN  OF  THORNS. PILATE's  AP- 
PEAL.  INCONSISTENCY  OF  JEWS. THE  CROSS.  —  PILATE's  RE- 
NEWED   INQUIRY.  —  INSCRIPTION    ON    THE    CROSS. PROPHECY. 

RELICS. "it     is     FINISHED." PROOF    OF     CURISt's     DEATH. 

SEPULCHRE. 

An  infidel  has  said  that  "if  Socrates  died  Hke  a  hero, 
Jesus  died  like  a  God."  "VVe  need  no  more  expressive  proof 
or  comment  upon  this  sentiment  than  the  sublime,  the  im- 
pressive, the  awful  chapter  we  have  now  read.  "We  saw,  in 
the  course  of  the  exposition  of  the  previous  chapter,  that 
Pilate  seemed  to  have  a  latent  conviction  that  Jesus  was 
what  he  professed  to  be  ;  that  he  was  betrayed  by  the  bit- 
terness of  his  foes ;  and  must  be  condemned  not  in  justice 
for  his  alleged  crimes,  but  in  compliance  with  the  demand  of 
a  bigoted  and  a  furious  populace.  We  accordingly  find  in 
the  previous  chapter  that  Pilate  made  every  etfort  to  let 
Jesus  go,  anxious  to  have  an  excuse  for  his  acquittal ;  shrink- 
ing from  what  he  felt  would  be  a  crime,  but  not  having  cour- 
age to  do  what  his  conscience  told  him  was  his  duty.  In 
this  chapter  he  takes  Jesus  and  scourges  him.  If  he  was 
guilty,  why  not  give  him  up  to  be  condemned  ;  if  he  was  in- 
nocent, why  scourge  him  ?  When  men  cease  to  obey  pure 
duty,  they  fall  into  the  most  contradictory  and  inconsistent 
courses. 

The  soldiers  then  plaited  a  crown  of  thorns,  put  it  on  his 
head,  and  a  purple  robe  upon  him  ;  and  they  said  in  mock- 
ery and  contempt,  "  Hail,  King  of  tlie  Jews  !  "  that  is,  "  Thou 
that  pretendest  to  be  tlie  King  of  the  Jews."     And    then 

(352) 


.Toiix  XIX.  .  353 

Pilate  brought  liim  fortli,  and  said,  "I  find  no  fault  in  lilm." 
"Then  came  Jesus  forth,  wearing  the  crown  of  thorns,  and 
the  purple  robe,  and  Pilate  saith  unto  them.  Behold  the  man !  " 
Is  this  the  man  you  are  afraid  of?  Is  this  the  being  you 
fear  will  sway  the  sceptre,  and  mount  the  throne,  and  claim 
jurisdiction  over  all  your  land  ?  How  deeply  must  you  be 
mistaken.  Behold  him  !  He  looks  more  like  a  servant 
than  a  prince ;  like  a  man  of  sorrows  rather  than  the  heir  of 
majesty.  Ought  I  not,  may  I  not  let  him  go,  as  one  too 
poor,  and  feeble,  and  friendless  to  injure  you?  Behold  him! 
and  judge  for  yourselves,  if  the  punishment  of  such  a  one 
be  at  all  necessary  for  the  safety  of  yourselves,  or  the  vindi- 
cation of  your  land. 

Pilate  again  intimated  how  anxious  he  was  to  let  him  go ; 
and  how  little  desire  he  felt  for  his  crucifixion  or  death. 

When  the  chief  priests  saw  Jesus,  they  shouted,  "  Crucify 
him,  crucify  him."  Nothing  can  be  more  shocking ;  because 
they  asked  the  Roman  to  inflict  a  Roman  punishment,  which 
the  Jews  could  not  inflict;  and  their  asking  tSI  Roman  to 
do  so  was  their  recognizing  Roman  supremacy.  In  other 
words,  they  gave  up  their  ardent  zeal  for  the  independence 
of  Palestine,  w^hich  they  felt  exceedingly  grieved  and  vexed 
at  being  regarded  as  a  province,  and  recognized  the  suprem 
acy  of  Ca3sar,  in  order  to  gratify  their  malignant  enmity  to 
the  Son  of  God,  the  Saviour  of  Sinners.  Pilate  said  to  them, 
with  consummate  sarcasm,  that  must  have  penetrated  their 
hearts,  and  felt  to  them  most  bitter,  "  Take  ye  him,  and  cru- 
cify him."  But  they  had  no  power  to  crucify  him  ;  cruci- 
fixion was  not  a  Jewish  punishment  at  all ;  and  they  had  no 
power  whatever  to  crucify  him.  Pilate  adds,  "I  find  no 
fault  in  him." 

From  this  fact,  that  Jesus  was  crucified,  the  cross  in  a 
superstitious  Church  has  been  invested  with  a  glory  and  a 
sacredness  that  one  can  scarcely  see  to  belong  to  it.  The 
excellence  of  Jesus'  sacrifice  was  not  in  the   mode   of  his 

30* 


354  SCRIPTL'UE     RICADIXGS. 

I 

death,  but  in  the  fact  of  his  death :  and  it  was  the  most  in- 
cidental of  things  that  it  was  a  cross,  and  not  stoning,  or 
some  other  mode  of  punishment.  There  is  no  glory  or  ex- 
cellence in  the  mode  of  his  death  ;  it  was  not  even  the  man- 
ner of  a  sacred  or  a  Jewish  death,  but  a  heathen  or  a  Roman 
one  ;  and  to  venerate  a  cross,  as  if  there  were  a  glory  in  it, 
is  the  most  absurd  and  outrageous  abuse  of  the  mode  of 
death  of  our  Blessed  Lord.  And,  very  consistently,  those 
that  venerate  the  cross  search  for  the  nails ;  next  for  the 
clothes  in  which  he  was  wrapped ;  next  for  the  coat  that  he 
wore  ;  next  for  the  sponge  and  the  reed ;  and  they  profess 
to  have  all,  and  venerate  all.  So  dangerous  is  it  to  admit  a 
principle  which,  carried  out,  will  land  in  the  most  extrava- 
gant and  monstrous  results  of  fraud,  superstition,  and  folly. 

"We  then  read  that  they  ai'gued  with  Pilate  a  little  longer, 
and  urged  that  Jesus  made  himself  the  Son  of  God.  "  When 
Pilate  therefore  heard  that  saying,  he  was  the  more  afraid." 
Why  afraid  ?  Not  afraid  that  he  would  be  a  king,  and  depose 
him,  but  evidently  on  account  of  the  awful  majesty  of  the  al- 
leged criminal  at  his  bar.  The  whole  history  of  Pilate's  in- 
tercourse with  Jesus  indicates  in  Pilate's  mind  a  deep  and 
awful  impression  that  he  was  dealing  not  with  the  son  of 
Mary,  but  with  the  Son  of  God,  the  Saviour  of  sinners. 
One  can  see  the  proofs  of  that  feeling,  however  latent,  at 
every  instance  ;  and  not  a  little  in  the  desire  of  Pilate  to 
wash  his  hands  of  the  guilt  that  he  felt  would  cleave  to  him 
if  he  gave  up  Christ  to  be  crucified.  Then  Pilate  said  to 
him,  "  Whence  art  thou  ?  "  not.  From  what  part  of  Palestine 
comest  thou  ?  but.  Art  thou  of  Divine  origin  ?  art  thou  really 
the  Son  of  God  ?  Do  tell  me  if  thou  be  the  brightness  of 
the  Father's  glory.  "  Whence  art  thou  ?  "  '•  But  Jesus  gave 
him  no  answer."  Why  so  ?  Because  repeatedly  he  had 
told  him  in  the  previous  chapter  that  he  was  the  Son  of 
God  ;  and  the  repeating  of  the  question  to  receive  the  same 
answer,  if  Pilate  did  not  wish  to  be  taught,  was  truly  waste 


JOHN  XIX.  855 

of  words,  and  waste  of  time,  and  only  the  gratiScation  of  an 
itching  curiosity,  not  a  reply  to  an  anxious  and  inquiring 
heart,  "  Then  saith  Pilate  unto  him,  Speakest  thou  not 
unto  me  ?  knowest  thou  not  that  I  have  power  to  crucify 
thee,  and  have  power  to  release  thee  ?  "  Jesus  answered, 
"  Thou  couldest  have  no  power  at  all  against  me,  except  it 
were  given  thee  from  above  ;  therefore  he  that  delivered 
me  unto  thee  hath  the  greater  sin." 

This  text  has  two  interpretations.  The  first  is.  Thou 
couldest  have  no  power  except  it  were  given  thee  from 
Ciesar  thy  superior,  or  from  the  Sanhedrim,  who  directed ; 
therefore,  the  party  that  gave  me  up  to  thee  hath  the  greater 
sin.  But  the  far  more  impressive  textual  interpretation  is, 
Thou  couldest  have  no  power  at  all  against  me  except  you 
were  invested  with  the  office  which  God  has  made  responsi- 
ble, and  clothed  with  legitimate  authority  and  power ;  and 
therefore  the  Sanhedrim  that  gave  me  up  to  thee  —  who  art 
not  my  judge,  but  simply  the  executor  of  the  sentence  of 
the  judge  —  has  the  greater  guilt;  for  they  have  done  it 
knowing  my  majesty,  my  greatness,  my  glory ;  thou  art  the 
mere  unhappy,  and  it  may  be  unconscious  instrument  of  ex- 
ecuting a  sentence,  the  justice  or  injustice  of  which  thou  art 
not  able  to  expiscapate  and  adequately  to  determine.  Then 
Pilate  sought  again  to  release  him ;  the  same  feeling  con- 
tinued in  Pilate's  mind;  but  the  Jews,  who  hated  Caesar, 
yet  for  the  occasion  argued,  "  Thou  art  not  Caesar's  friend." 
Pilate  again  brought  him  forth,  and  sat  in  the  judgment- 
seat  ;  and  again  he  said  to  them,  "  Behold  your  king ! " 
Why  should  you  be  alarmed  at  him  ?  There  is  no  risk  of 
his  taking  away  your  country,  or  destroying  your  province, 
or  superseding  Caesar.  Look  at  him !  How  can  you  an- 
ticipate such  results  from  so  inadequate  a  cause  ?  But  they 
cried  out,  evidently  deaf  to  argument,  "Away  with  him; 
away  with  him  ;  crucify  him  I  "  Pilate  again  remonstrates ; 
we  see  throughout  how  anxious  he  is  to  let  him  go.     "  Shall 


OOG  SCRirTURE     READINGS. 

I  crucify  your  king?"  And  then  the  chief  priests  said — • 
as  if  to  show  tlie  fulfihiient  of  tlie  prophec}',  "  The  sceptre 
shall  not  depart  from  Jiulah,  nor  a  lawgiver  from  between 
his  feet,  until  the  Shiloh  come ; "  and  to  prove  that  the  sceptre 
had  departed,  and  from  their  own  lips  too,  they  gave  unani- 
mous expression  to  the  sentiment  —  ''  We  have  no  king  but 
CjBsar."  Judea  is  a  province,  Rome  is  the  capital,  and 
Cajsar  is  our  king.  He  then  delivered  up  Jesus  to  them  to 
be  crucified,  and  they  took  him  and  led  him  away.  We  then 
read  that  he  bore  his  cross  —  a  heavy  cross  beam  —  to  a 
place  called  Golgotha ;  a  conical  mount,  supposed  still  to  be 
traceable  near  Jerusalem ;  and  called  "  the  place  of  a  skull," 
from  its  similarity  to  the  crown  of  the  human  head.  There 
they  crucified  him,  with  a  thief  upon  the  one  side,  and 
another  thief  upon  the  other.  And  they  wrote  a  title, 
"  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  King  of  the  Jews."  They  wrote 
it  in  Latin,  which  was  the  official  tongue  ;  in  Greek,  which 
was  the  language  of  the  higher  classes  ;  and  in  Hebrew, 
or  Syriac,  which  was  the  language  of  the  great  mass 
of  the  people  of  Israel ;  and  thus  the  name,  the  office,  the 
dignity,  the  true  title  of  Jesus  was  legible  in  every  tongue 
in  Palestine  ;  an  earnest  and  a  type  of  that  day  when  his 
name  shall  be  exalted  above  every  name,  and  all  tongues 
shall  praise  him,  and  all  tribes  shall  bless  him,  and  be  blessed 
in  him. 

We  then  read  that  when  they  crucified  him,  they  parted 
his  garments  into  four  parts,  and  his  coat  they  cast  lots  for. 
It  was  a  sort  of  priestly  or  sacerdotal  robe,  not  worn  by 
him  in  order  to  signify  a  priestly  office,  but  the  ordinary 
robe  worn  in  that  day.  If  you  wish  to  see  the  sort  of  robe, 
the  stones  that  have  been  dug  from  Nineveh  will  show  some 
of  the  robes  worn  by  the  officiating  priests,  or  by  the  eagle- 
headed  figures  taken  from  ancient  Egyptian  and  Nineveh 
remains.  It  was  a  loose  robe  that  hung  down  from  the  neck, 
fastened  with  a  clasp  or  a  buckle,  and  descending  to  the 


JOHN  XIX.  357 

ankles  —  this  robe  they  did  not  wish  to  sever,  and  therefore 
they  cast  lots  for  it.  Now  how  strange  that  so  minute  an 
incident  as  this  should  be  the  subject  of  a  prophecy ;  and 
what  a  proof  in  the  fulfilment  of  that  minute  prophecy,  that 
other  prophecy  equally  minute  will  be  exactly  fulfilled. 
This  robe  has  been  worshipped  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  I 
mean  regarded  with  the  veneration  usually  given  to  relics  in 
that  communion.  We  have  all  read  that  at  Treves  it  was  ex- 
posed for  the  veneration  of  the  faithful.  But  there  is  no 
evidence  that  it  was  the  real  robe  ;  on  the  contrary,  there 
is  the  strongest  evidence  that  it  was  not ;  for  the  dye  of 
it  is  recent. 

The  peculiar  dye  of  the  coat  at  Treves  was  unknown  in 
the  days  of  our  Blessed  Lord,  as  chemists  have  shown ;  but 
let  us  see  here  how  little  sanction  there  is  for  such  a  thing. 
If  this  coat  had  been  meant  to  have  been  preserved  as  a 
relic,  you  would  have  had  the  history  of  it ;  that  it  was 
handed  over  to  such  a  family,  and  they  devoutly  kept  it,  and 
transmitted  it  to  such  another  family,  and  they  devoutly 
venerated  it,  and  then  it  came  into  the  possession  of  such 
another  family,  and  was  there  cherished,  and  then  handed 
down  to  the  next,  and  so  on.  But  it  is  stated,  in  the  plain- 
est manner,  "  They  cast  lots  for  it,"  and  I  have  no  doubt 
the  soldier  to  whom  it  fell  went  to  the  nearest  wine-shop, 
sold  it  or  pledged  it  for  a  little  wine,  and  it  was  worn,  and 
ultimately  torn  to  pieces,  after  it  was  worn  out ;  a  strik- 
ing proof  that  it  is  not  the  robes,  the  nails,  the  cross,  the 
varied  accompaniments  of  that  death,  that  are  of  any  effi- 
cacy or  value  to  us  ;  but  the  precious  fact,  that  the  vic- 
tim died  bearing  our  sins,  and  rose  again  for  our  justifi- 
cation. 

After  this,  when  Jesus  said,  "  I  thirst,"  they  gave  him 
the  usual  drink  of  Roman  soldiers,  a  sort  of  light  and  sour 
wine,  called  here  vinegar.  And  when  he  had  tasted  it,  he 
exclaimed,  "  It  is  finished."     What  a  magnificent  sentiment ! 


358  scniPTURE  readings. 

"  All  ancient  types  are  now  exhausted  ;  all  ancient  prophe- 
cies are  now  fulfilled  ;  all  the  sins  of  the  world  laid  ui)on  me 
are  now  expiated ;  there  is  now  a  perfect  sacrifice  ;  there  is 
now  glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  on  earth  peace  and  good- 
will to  men.  You  have  not  to  do,  to  suffer,  or  to  pay,  in 
order  to  be  blessed  ;  through  my  death  it  is  finished.  There 
is  no  more  suffering  required,  no  more  payment  demanded. 
I  have  borne  all  that  you  deserved  as  sinners ;  I  have  paid 
all  that  you  owed  as  creatures ;  by  me  and  through  me,  re- 
ceived by  faith,  the  worst,  the  guiltiest  and  the  vilest  may 
have  access  to  the  Father  for  mercy  and  for  forgiveness." 
"  And  he  bowed  his  head,  and,"  it  is  said  in  our  version, 
"  gave  up  the  ghost,"  literally,  dismissed  his  spirit.  Not 
died  by  constraint,  but  voluntarily  gave  up  his  spirit.  It 
was  in  his  own  hands ;  he  had  power  to  lay  it  down,  and 
power  to  take  it  up. 

We  then  read  that  the  usual  treatment  of  the  crucified 
was  inflicted  on  the  thieves.  But  when  they  came  to  Jesus, 
they  did  not  break  his  legs  ;  and  that  was  the  unconscious 
fulfilment  of  a  prophecy,  "  Not  a  bone  of  him  shall  be  bro- 
ken." But  they  pierced  his  side,  and  blood  and  water  came 
forth.  Medical  men  will  tell  you,  that  this  is  the  strongest 
proof  that  death  had  taken  place.  This  seems  a  very  un- 
necessary incident,  and  yet  it  is  a  very  precious  one.  What 
is  called  the  ■pericardium,  that  surrounds  the  heart,  must 
have  been  penetrated ;  and  water  and  blood  coming  out 
must  prove,  as  medical  men  assert,  that  death  had  taken 
place ;  and  if  it  had  not  taken  place,  the  wound  was  so  seri- 
ous that  it  must  have  been  fatal.  But  you  ask,  why  is  it  so 
important  to  prove  this  ?  Because,  if  he  had  not  really  died, 
there  would  have  been  no  proof  of  a  real  resurrection, 
but  only  the  infidel's  presumption  of  a  pretended  one.  The 
very  fact,  therefore,  that  his  death  is  proved  to  have  so  posi- 
tively taken  place,  is,  among  other  things,  necessary  to  pre- 
pare us  for  the  proofs  that  his  resurrection  also  took  place 
on  the  third  day. 


juiiN  XIX.  359 

Joseph  of  Ariinatliea,  a  rich  and  influential  Christian,  but, 
like  many  rich  men  in  every  age,  afraid,  out  of  shame,  to 
be  the  adherent  of  the  Crucified,  nevertheless  came  forward 
when  his  presence  was  most  required,  and  took  charge  of 
the  body  of  Jesus  ;  got  the  spices  in  which,  according  to  the 
custom  of  the  Jews,  it  was  to  be  wrapped  to  prevent  decay, 
and  laid  it  in  a  sepulchre  —  a  new  sepulchre,  wherein  never 
nian  was  laid.  AVhy  record  that  incident  ?  Because  if 
other  man  had  been  laid  there,  there  would  have  been  no 
clear  proof  that  it  was  Jesus  that  rose  from  the  dead.  The 
very  fact  that  it  was  a  new  sepulchre,  wherein  man  had 
never  before  been  hiid,  made  it  more  easy  to  identify  the 
risen  one  as  the  very  being  who  was  laid  in  it.  And  in  the 
next  place,  it  shows  how  very  poor  Jesus  was,  how  little 
sympathy  there  was  with  him,  when  this  sepulchre  was  se- 
lected, not  because  it  was  the  best,  but  because  it  was  "  nigh 
at  hand." 

Here,  then,  is  a  death  which  is  our  life,  a  sacrifice  which 
is  our  salvation  ;  a  record  is  in  this  chapter,  worth  all  that 
Plato  ever  taught,  or  Homer  ever  sung,  or  philosopher  ever 
dreamed,  or  scholar  ever  prepared.  Thanks  be  to  God  for 
that  cross  and  passion  !  may  he  give  us  faith  to  rest  upon 
it ;  may  he  make  us  thankful  for  it ;  may  he  help  us  with 
all  the  heart  to  praise  him  who  redeemed  us  at  so  great  ex- 
penditure, and  has  made  us  sons  and  heirs  of  God,  and  joint- 
heirs  with  Christ. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

{Second  Part.) 
Pilate's  VACILLATION.  —  innocence  suffers. — pilate's   wife. 

MORAL  BORDERERS. JESUS'  DEATH. ITS    NATURE.  JOSEPH 

OF   ARIMATHEA. NICODEMUS. 

One  of  the  most  humiliating  spectacles  presented  in  the 
Bible  is  that  of  Pilate  ;  one  who  had  all  the  dignity,  the 
duty,  and  the  responsibility  of  royalty,  but  had  neither  the 
candor  nor  the  courage  to  carry  it  out  in  the  most  trying 
circumstances.  One  can  see  at  every  point  of  his  character 
that  his  inner  conviction  was,  that  Jesus  was  an  innocent 
man ;  nay,  more,  that  he  was  more  than  man ;  for  there 
seems  to  have  been  about  Pilate  a  terror,  a  sensitive  shrink- 
ing from  the  awful  tragedy  into  which  he  was  precipitated, 
and  a  desire  at  all  hazards,  if  he  could  retain  his  sovereignty, 
his  crown,  and  his  duty  to  his  master  at  Rome,  to  get  rid  of 
this  terrible  and  painful  business.  We  have  only  to  read 
this  chapter  to  see  it.  When,  in  the  previous  chapter,  Pilate 
entered  into  the  judgment  hall,  and  asked  Jesus,  "  Art  thou 
the  king  of  the  Jews  ?  "  Jesus  answered  him,  "  Sayest  thou 
this  thing  of  thyself,  or  did  others  tell  it  thee  of  me  ? " 
Pilate  answered,  "  Am  I  a  Jew  ?  Thine  own  nation  and  the 
chief  priests  have  delivered  thee  unto  me  :  what  hast  thou 
done  ? "  Jesus  answered,  "  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this 
world."  Pilate  then  said,  "  Art  thou  a  king  then  ?  "  Jesus 
answered,  "  Thou  sayest  that  I  am  a  king.  To  this  end 
was  I  born."     And  then  he  said,  "  Every  one  that  is  of  the 

(360) 


JOHN  XIX.  361 

truth  liearctli  my  voice."  Pilate  saith  unto  him,  "  What  is 
truth  ?"  an  ancient  question,  still  repeated  in  modern  times  ; 
and  loo  maJiy,  like  Pilate,  ask  the  question,  "  What  is 
truth  ?  "  and  like  Pilate  they  move  away  regardless  of  the 
answer  that  may  be  given.  He  then  said  to  the  Jews,  *'  Ye 
have  a  custom,  that  I  should  release  unto  you  one  at  the 
passover ;  will  yb  therefore  that  I  release  unto  you  the  king 
of  the  Jews  ? "  And  what  an  awful  and  monstrous  re- 
sponse !  When  the  Gentile  prince  offered  to  release  the 
Lord  of  glory,  the  degraded  Church,  the  Jewish  Church, 
that  had  a  true  succession  —  not  a  sham  succession,  but  a 
true  succession,  every  priest  of  which  could  trace  his  gene- 
alogy demonstrably  up  to  Aaron ;  a  Church  cradled  amid 
miracles,  a  Church  that  had  pi'ophecies  from  heaven  to 
teach  it,  yet  had  become  so  apostate  that  it  cried  with 
scarcely  a  protesting  voice,  "  Not  this  man,  but  Barab- 
bas  !  "  And  how  simply  is  it  added,  with  a  quiet  dignity 
that  indicates  the  inspiration  of  the  historian,  "  Now.  Ba- 
rabbas  was  a  robber." 

Pilate,  unable  to  get  rid  of  this  responsibility,  took  Jesus 
and  scourged  him.  Now,  if  he  was  innocent,  why  scourge 
him  ?  If  he  was  not  innocent,  why  hesitate  to  give  him  up 
to  be  crucified  ?  He  thought  that  by  this  pece  of  cruelty 
he  might  propitiate  the  Jews'  wrath  so  far,  and  be  able  thus 
to  let  his  victim  escape.  He  then  put  on  him  a  purple  robe 
and  a  crown  of  thorns  ;  and  they  said,  "  Hail,  king  of  the 
Jews  !  and  they  smote  him  with  their  hands."  And  yet  that 
crown  of  thorns  was  more  beautiful  tlian  the  Olympian  cor- 
onet or  the  diadem  of  all  the  Ca;sars :  and  that  robe  thrown 
upon  him  in  mockery  was  resplendent  with  glory.  It  was 
our  shame,  not  his  ;  it  was  our  degradation,  not  his.  It  was 
his  shame  that  he  suffered  ;  it  was  his  glory  that  the  suffer- 
ing was  not  for  himself,  but  for  us. 

He  then  brought  him  forth,  and  Pilate  owned  that  he 
could  find  no  fault  in  him.      What  a   testimony  !     Satan 

31 


362  scniPTURE  readings. 

could  find  nothing  in  him ;  fiie  Jews  falsely  accused  him ; 
Pilate,  that  had  examined  him  in  every  way,  could  find  no 
fault  in  him.  Heaven,  earth,  and  hell  attested  the  innocence 
of  that  Holy  One  of  God.  We  would  ask  any  man  who  doubts 
the  reality  of  the  atonement,  this  important  question.  How 
does  it  happen  that  the  only  innocent  being  that  ever  ap- 
peared upon  the  earth  —  confessedly  innocent,  heaven,  earth, 
and  hell  attesting  that  he  was  so  —  how  happens  it,  that  he 
was  the  greatest  sufferer  that  ever  appeared  upon  earth? 
God's  law  is,  that  perfect  innocence  is  perfect  happiness ; 
but  here  is  a  violation  of  that  law ;  for  here  was  perfect  in- 
nocence with  the  intensest  misery  and  suffering.  Why  ? 
There  is  no  explanation  but  one  :  it  would  be  as  great  injus- 
tice on  the  part  of  God  to  let  an  innocent  being  suffer,  as  it 
would  be  to  let  a  guilty  being  be  happy.  Yet  this  innocent 
being  —  confessedly  innocent  —  was  the  greatest  sufferer. 
The  only  solution  of  the  apparent  difficulty  is,  he  suffered, 
but  not  for  himself;  he  lived  and  died  an  atoning  victim. 

"  Pilate,  therefore,  when  he  heard  that  saying "  —  that . 
Jesus  had  made  himself  the  Son  of  God  —  "  was  the  more 
afraid."  Why  was  he  the  more  afraid  ?  What  meaning  is 
there  in  this  ?  Why  should  he  be  afraid  at  it  ?  The  reason 
is  this,  that  e^ery  Jew  understood  the  Son  of  God  to  be 
equal  to  God ;  and  you  will  recollect,  in  previous  chapters, 
it  is  stated  expressly  that  he  blasphemed,  because  he  made 
himself  the  Son  of  God.  Now  Pilate  had  in  his  own  heart 
strong  suspicions  that  he  was  higher  than  human.  His  wife, 
with  that  sensitive  perception  of  what  is  true  which  is  pecu- 
liar to  woman,  and  far  keener  than  in  the  bosom  of  man, 
saw  through  the  assaults  of  the  priests,  and  recognized  in 
him,  whose  countenance  was  so  marred,  the  majesty  of  God  ; 
and  therefore  she  gave  her  husband  advice,  that  he  would 
have  done  well  to  have  taken,  to  have  nothing  to  do  with 
that  innocent  man.  He  evidently  felt  the  force  of  this ;  but 
he  was  one  of  those  unhapiiy  characters  found  in  every 


JOHN  XIX.  363 

nation,  that  are  invested  with  political  and  social  power,  not 
peculiar  to  any  age,  whose  life  is  a  constant  struggle  between 
what  is  expedient  and  what  is  duty.  His  conscience  wall 
not  let  him  give  full  swing  to  his  passions,  his  passions  will 
not  let  him  obey  his  conscience  ;  and  he  has  all  the  misery 
thei'efore  of  a  sinner,  without  the  least  of  the  comfort  of 
a  saint.  Tlie  life  of  such  a  one  is  a  perpetual  warfare, 
something  like  that  of  the  borderers  between  England 
and  Scotland  in  ancient  days ;  when  the  two  nations 
quarrelled,  it  was  the  borderei's  that  were  always  first 
and  last  in  the  war,  and  the  greatest  sufferers  of  its  ef- 
fects. So  those  men  that  are  borderers,  if  I  may  so  call 
them,  —  who  are  constantly  trying  to  keep  their  conscience 
and  their  passions  in  good  order,  or  at  peace  with  each  other, 
which  is  impossible,  —  have  the  greatest  misery,  ceaseless 
disquiet,  no  comfort,  and  all  they  do  ends  only  in  calamity 
and  disaster.  Never  forget,  that  the  highest  and  holiest 
principle  is  always  the  truest  expediency.  Right  principle 
is  always  expedient;  what  seems  expedient,  if  it  be  not 
based  on  principle  never  is  so.  The  nearest  way  to  any 
given  point  is  a  straight  line  ;  but  most  people  have  got  the 
notion  in  morals,  which  they  would  repudiate  in  mathematics, 
that  a  zigzag  line,  or  a  semicircle,  is  the  nearest  route  from 
one  point  to  another. 

Then  Jesus  told  Pilate  that  he  could  have  no  power  ex- 
cept it  was  given  by  those  that  are  above,  and  therefore  he 
that  betrayed  him,  and  the  Jews,  had  the  greater  sin.  And 
see  how  shocking  was  the  hypocrisy  of  the  Jews  ;  they  tried 
to  make  it  out  that  Jesus  admitted  Cajsar's  supremacy  whilst 
they  were  the  greatest  opponents  of  it,  —  when  it  suited 
their  purpose,  you  would  have  thought  these  Jews  were  the 
most  devoted  adherents  of  C«sar.  Now  they  really  hated 
the  supremacy  of  Caesar ;  but  they  were  high  churchmen, 
insisting  on  the  supremacy  of  their  churcli,  wlien  it  suited 
their  purpose ;  and  they  became  high  Erastians,  insisting  on 


364  SCRIPTURE    READIXGS. 

the  supremacy  of  Cassar,  when  it  suited  their  purpose. 
They  had  no  conscience,  no  principle  ;  they  were  determined 
that  the  distuiber  of  the  people  should  be  got  rid  of  at  all 
hazards ;  and  they  were  prepared  to  forswear  themselves, 
to  make  false  charges,  if  they  could  only  get  rid  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth.  Pilate  yielded  ;  Jesus  was  taken  and  crucified, 
an  inscription,  the  inscription  that  was  literal  truth,  was 
written  on  the  cross,  "  Jesus  of  Nazareth  the  King  of  the 
Jews  ; "  and  that  this  might  be  understood  by  everybody,  it 
was  in  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin.  Then  every  truth  in 
the  Bible  ought  to  be  conveyed  in  the  language  that  will 
teach  everybody.  In  other  words,  everybody  ought  to  hear 
the  Gospel  and  have  the  Bible  in  the  tongue  wherein  he  was 
born.  They  ran  to  Pilate  and  wished  to  alter  this  inscrip- 
tion ;  but  by  an  instinct  that  was  true,  or  probably  a  result 
of  an  influence  that  was  irresistible,  he  said,  "  What  I  have 
written  I  have  Avritten."  And  thus  every  minute  prediction 
was  fulfilled.  They  parted  his  garments ;  his  coat  was  with- 
out seam,  and  they  cast  lots  for  it.  How  little  like  the  relic- 
gathering  of  modern  times.  The  garment  of  Jesus  was 
parted  into  four  shreds,  the  coat  was  cast  lots  for  by  the 
soldiers,  probably  sold  to  the  nearest  purchaser  they  could 
find  ;  and  then  it  disappears.  There  is  here  no  canonization 
of  the  taste  or  passion  for  sacred  relics.  And  if  we  had 
these  gaiTnents  —  assumed,  as  we  have  seen,  by  the  Church 
of  Rome  to  be  sacredly  preserved  still  —  the  hohest  treat- 
ment of  them  if  they  were  in  our  possession,  would  be 
quietly  to  burn  them.  Sense  is  always  craving  to  touch  the 
hem  of  the  Saviour's  garment ;  faith  is  satisfied  with  loving 
him  whom  it  has  not  seen  ;  in  whom,  though  now  it  sees  him 
not,  yet  believing,  it  rejoices  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full 
of  glory. 

The  expression  that  occurs  in  his  dying  moments  is  I 
think  most  touching.  He  sees  John,  the  beloved  disciple, 
and   Mary,  his   mother,  standing  by ;  and   he   says  to  his 


JOHN  XIX.  365 

mother,  "  Woman,  behold  thy  son  ! "  That  is,  Look  upon 
John,  my  disciple,  as  thy  son  henceforth,  and  treat  him  as 
such.  And  then  he  turned  to  the  disciple  and  said,  "  Be- 
hold thy  mother  !  "  —  do  not  worship  her,  as  it  has  been  in- 
ferred ;  but  give  her  a  home — a  homeless  mother  a  home 
to  lodge  in.  How  little  like  the  worship  that  is  given  to 
Mary  in  modern  times ! 

We  read  then,  that  there  was  a  vessel  filled  with  vinegar, 
and  when  Jesus  had  received  of  it  to  satisfy  thirst,  he  bowed 
his  head,  and  said,  "  It  is  finished ; "  and  gave  up  the  ghost. 
Now  it  has  been  proved  here,  that  Jesus  died  in  full  physi- 
cal strength  and  vigor ;  and  the  remark  has  been  made  from 
a  careful  comparison  of  the  incidents  relating  to  the  death  of 
Jesus,  that  the  real  cause  of  his  death  was  literally  the  heart 
bursting  under  the  weight  and  pressure  of  that  agony  with 
which  it  was  loaded  ;  that  he  died  a  victim  in  the  full  strength 
and  vigor  of  manhood ;  and  literally  it  was  not  so  much  the 
spirit  taken  from  him,  as  that  he  gave  up  the  ghost,  and  vol- 
untarily died  a  sacrifice  for  our  sins,  a  satisfaction  to  God's 
justice.  The  word  "  ghost,"  I  need  not  add,  is  the  old  Eng- 
lish or  Saxon  word  for  "  spirit."  You  must  have  noticed  if 
you  have  travelled  in  Germany,  that  the  expression  for  an 
inn  is  ghast  haus  —  literally,  "  ghost  house,"  that  is,  of  a 
guest.  And  so  the  soul  of  man  is  called  the  guest  of  the 
body.  It  is  a  very  beautiful  thought.  The  body  is  the 
caravanserai,  the  temporary  building;  the  soul,  or  the  spirit, 
is  the  guest  that  is  living  in  it  for  a  little,  lodging  in  it  for  a 
season,  until  the  tent  is  struck,  and  the  inhabitant  pursues 
tiis  way  to  his  happy  and  his  eternal  home. 

How  very  beautiful  are  the  two  incidents  at  the  close  of 
the  chapter.  Joseph  of  Ai'imathea  had  long  been  a  disci- 
ple, but  secretly,  for  fear  of  the  Jews.  He  now  comes  out. 
Nicodemus,  that  came  at  first  by  night  to  Jesus  also  comes 
by  day.  We  learn  from  these  two  incidents  that  there  may 
be  real  Christianity  with  great  imperfections.     A  man  may 

31* 


3GG  SCRIPTUUE    READINGS. 

be  a  true  Christian,  and  yet  afraid  to  confess  it.  I  do  not 
justify  liis  fear  to  confess  it ;  it  is  sinful,  it  is  wrong.  But 
one  may  be  a  true  Christian,  and  yet  there  may  be  draw- 
backs and  defects  very  marked.  There  is  no  sunshine  with- 
out shadow  ;  gold  is  not  workable  without  alloy  ;  and  there 
is  no  Christian  without  a  mixture  of  imperfection.  Nicode- 
mus  once  would  come  by  night,  he  was  afraid  to  come  by 
day ;  Joseph  would  pray  and  love  in  secret.  But  when  the 
testing  hour  came,  both  emerged  from  their  cowardice  and 
from  the  shadow,  and  came  boldly  forward  as  the  disciples 
of  Jesus.  A  great  calamity  brings  out  character  that  has 
hitherto  been  dormant ;  they  felt  therefore  that  this  last  and 
severing  stroke  was  all  that  was  needed  to  make  them  come 
forward ;  and  as  they  would  not,  or  could  not,  when  all  was 
bright  and  prosperous,  they  now  have  the  courage  to  step 
forward,  and  advocate  a  cause  when  everybody  was  opposed 
to  it. 


CHAPTER  XIX.  25-27. 

X  GROUP.  SUFFERINGS  OF  JJpSUS.  — TllEWOMEN. WOMAN'S  CHAK- 

ACTER. CALMNESS    OF     THE    VIRGIN    MARY. HER   DISAPPOINT- 
MENT.  WORDS    OF    JESUS    TO    MARY. — IIIS    ENTIRE    POVERTY. 

COMPENSATION. SILENCE  OF  SCRIPTURE  ON  3IARY. 

In  this  chapter  appears  a  remarkable  group,  every  com- 
ponent member  of  which  is  a  study. 

"  Now  there  stood  by  the  cross  of  Jesus  his  mother,  and 
his  Mother's  sister,  Mary  the  wife  of  Cleophas,  and  Mary 
Magdalene.  When  Jesus  therefore  saw  his  mother,  and  the 
disciple  standing  by,  whom  he  loved,  he  saith  unto  his  mother, 
Woman,  behold  thy  son !  Then  saith  he  to  the  disciple, 
Behold  thy  mother  !  And  from  that  hour  that  disciple  took 
her  unto  his  own  home."     John  xix.  25-27. 

Here  is,  perhaps  one  of  the  most  memorable  groups  re- 
corded in  any  chapter  of  the  history  of  the  Church  of  Christ, 
or  of  the  world  of  mankind ;  a  group  that  never  had  a  pre- 
cedent before  it,  and  that  never  since  has  had  a  parallel  in 
the  experience  of  mankind.  There  hung  upon  the  cross  in 
all  its  unprovoked  and  undeserved  agony,  the  Son  of  God, 
the  Saviour  of  sinners.  Our  sins  were  borne  by  him  there  ; 
their  burden  was  most  heavy  ;  and  the  ingratitude,  the  sense 
of  ingratitude  from  them  he  came  to  die  for,  created  within 
him  a  sorrow  far  more  bitter  than  the  sufferings  he  endured 
without.  Nothing,  nothing  but  the  nature  of  his  death,  ex- 
plains so  extraordinary  torture  ;  nothing  but  the  fact  that  the 
spotless  Lamb  came  to  suffer  for  the  stray,  the  stained,  and 
the  guilty  flock,  explains  the  unprecedented  sufferings  of  One 
against  whom   Pilate   had  no  real   chai'ge;  at  whose  door 

(367) 


368  SCRIPTURK    READINGS. 

Satan,  who  had  tried  him,  could  lay  no  sin ;  and  over  whose 
head  the  voice  from  heaven  pronounced  his  acquittal  and 
his  innocence,  when  it  said,  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in 
whom  I  am  well  pleased."  If  Christ  was  not  a  vicarious 
sufferer,  we  have  here  in  the  providence  of  God  the  only 
specimen  of  absolute  innocence  made  the  greatest  sufferer 
that  ever  appeared  among  mankind. 

Explain  the  cross  on  any  other  hypothesis  than  this,  that 
Christ  died  an  atonement,  and  God's  law  has  been  broken, 
God's  justice  has  been  unjust.  His  law  is  that  perfect  in- 
nocence is  perfect  immunity  from  pain,  from  sorrow,  and 
from  death.  But  perfect  innocence  was  here  ;  and  yet  with 
God's  sanction,  at  least  in  God's  silence,  the  highest  inno- 
cence was  the  greatest  sufferer.  There  is  no  solution  of  the 
mystery,  save  in  this ;  that  he  Avas  cut  off,  but  not  for  him- 
self; that  he  died  an  atonement  for  our  sins,  a  sacrifice,  that 
we  might  be  saved. 

The  next  section  of  the  group  consisted  of  females  —  the 
Virgin  Mary,  Mary  Magdalene,  and  others  —  who  were  as- 
sembled around  the  cross.  How  remarkable  had  been  the 
career  of  these  females.  They  followed  him  to  the  cross  ; 
they  preceded  the  apostles  and  evangelists  to  the  tomb  on  the 
resurrection  morn.  In  these  trying  scenes  women  eclipsed 
the  men  that  were  the  followers  of  Jesus.  Strange  it  is  that 
the  nature  that  is  most  sensitive,  when  sn§tained  by  a  pow- 
erful and  dominant  sense  of  duty,  seems  ablest  and  most 
magnanimous  to  endure,  and  even  triumph.  In  the  annals 
of  the  world  woman  has  thought  what  man  has  only  dreamed, 
and  done  what  man  has  only  thought,  and  triumphed  where 
man  has  without  exception  and  signally  failed.  If  she  was 
first  in  our  ruin,  hei's  was  no  mei'it,  but  hers  was  precedence 
at  the  scene  of  our  restoration.  And  ever  since,  who  knows 
not  that  the  chambers  of  the  weeping,  the  vigils  of  the  sick, 
the  pillows  of  the  dying,  have  never  been  without  her  2)res- 
ence ;  and  rarely  without  alleviation  and  refreshment  from 


JOHN  XIX.  369 

it?  At  the  bidding  of  duty  or  affection,  not  only  ScriiJture, 
but  all  history  will  tell  you,  she  can  go  through  scenes 
where  man  sinks  desponding,  discouraged,  and  absolutely 
helpless.  Her  affection  does  not  falter  in  the  worst,  it  does 
not  weary  in  the  best  of  times ;  it  does  not  give  way  in  the 
most  protracted  of  the  scenes  of  human  suffering.  This  was 
exemplified  at  the  cross  ;  it  has  had  its  succession  ever  since. 
Mary,  the  wife  of  Cleophas,  Mary  Magdalene,  and  the  Vir- 
gin Mary  constituted  the  group  that  stood  firm  in  that  hour 
of  agony  unprecedented  in  history,  unparalleled  in  the  expe- 
rience of  man. 

In  the  group  was  one  whose  name  has  been  more  men- 
tioned in  the  history  of  Christendom  than  that  of  any  other ; 
and  whose  character  has  been  degraded  in  the  practical  es- 
timate of  man  by  the  outrageous  offering  of  homage  and  of 
adoration  wickedly  paid  to  it ;  I  allude  to  the  Virgin  Mary. 
It  is  the  place  she  occupies  here  that  has  suggested  the  im- 
portance of  speaking  of  her,  and  the  estimate  we  should 
form  of  her  character  from  the  transactions  recorded  in  the 
25th  and  2Gth  verses  of  this  chapter.  And  one  cannot  help 
noticing  in  the  first  place  the  contrast  between  the  simple 
story  of  the  evangelist  and  the  extravagant  fables  and  stories 
of  the  Church  of  Rome.  If  you  visit  any  continental  ca- 
thedral, as,  for  instance,  that  of  Bruges,  Antwerp,  or  Brus- 
sels, or  other  towns  where  the  chiefest  productions  of  the 
ancient  masters  are,  you  will  find  that  wherever  there  is  a 
crucifixion,  or  a  crucifix,  you  have  Mary  in  agony,  in  dis- 
tress, with  dishevelled  hair,  indicative,  according  to  the 
painter's  idea,  of  great  disturbance  and  terrible  pain  and 
suffering.  It  may  have  been  true ;  it  was  true  that  she  suf- 
fered ;  but  in  the  record  in  this  book  there  is  no  statement 
of  any  thing  of  extravagance ;  no  excited  exclamation,  no 
passionate  execi'ation  towards  enemies,  no  cries  of  deep 
grief.  All  is  calm,  quiet,  subdued  ;  not  the  calm  of  indiffer- 
ence or  of  stoicism,  but  a  grief  too  deep  for  tears,  an  agony 


370  LJRIPTURE    READINGS. 

too  intense  for  expression.  It  was  the  silence  of  an  over- 
whelming calamity,  not  the  rude  and  frantic  expression  of  a 
transient  sorrow.  And  therefore  the  sketch  of  the  evange- 
list is  true  to  nature,  worthy  of  the  scene  ;  the  sketches  of 
Romish  painters  are  extravagant,  exaggerated,  and  many  of 
then\  absurd. 

In  looking  at  this  group,  and  at  her  to  whom  I  have  re- 
ferred in  the  midst  of  it,  one  cannot  but  conceive  how  she 
must  have  felt  as  she  beheld  him  whom  she  regarded  as  her 
son,  but  who  occupied  a  far  loftier  sphere,  and  was  clothed 
with  a  far  grander  nature :  at  that  hour  she  must  have  been 
deeply  and  bitterly  disappointed.     She  was  then  a  very  un- 
enlightened Christian,  like  John  and  Matthew,  and  the  rest 
of  the  apostles.     She  had  grace  enough  to  save  her ;  she 
had  not  the  grace  that  was  given  after  the  day  of  Pentecost, 
when  the  Holy  Spirit  descended  upon  them,  and  gave  them 
a  new  mission,  as  he  enriched  their  minds  with  a  richer  and 
a  more  glorious  wisdom.     But  when  she  looked  upon  this 
scene  she  must  have  felt  that  the  only  prophecy  that  related 
to  Jesus  that  she  could  trace  fulfilled  was  that  which  Simeon 
uttered,  "  A  sword  shall  pierce  through  thine  own  heart  also." 
No  doubt  she  asked.  Is  this  the  close  of  the  life  of  one  of 
whom  it  was  written,  "  A  virgin  shall  conceive  and  bear  a 
son  ?  "     Is  this  the  finale  of  a  life  that  angels  chanted,  whom 
shepherds  came  to  adore,  to  whom  the  Magi  offered  incense 
and  gifts  frora  afar  ?     Is  this  the  end  of  one  who  calmed  the 
sea  by  his  word,  who  beckoned  to  the  wild  waves,  and  they 
lay  still  like  babes  at  his  holy  feet  ?     Is  this  the  close  of  a 
life  that  raised  the  dead,  that  opened  the  grave,  whose  birth 
to  me  is  inscrutable,  whose  life  has  been  so  much  above  the 
ordinary  level  ?     Are  all  my  hopes  blasted  ;  are  all  proph- 
ecies confuted  ?     Is  it  after  all  not  he  —  in  the  language  of 
the  disciples  journeying  to  Emmaus  —  that  should  have  re- 
deemed Israel  ?     I  have  no  doubt  that  these,  and  similar 
doubts  to  these,  passed  through  the  mind  of  that  sorrowing 


JOHN  XIX.  371 

woman,  that  afflicted  mother,  while  she  stood  by  the  cross, 
and  gazed  on  liim  who  endured  its  agony  alone. 

Jesus  witnessing  Mary;  instantly  addressed  her,  and  said, 
"  Woman,  behold  thy  son."  Not,  "  Behold  me,  thy  Son  ;  " 
but  "  Behold  John,  thy  Son,"  evidently  from  what  follows  ; 
for  he  said  to  John,  "  Behold  thy  mother."  In  Roman  Cath- 
olic books  of  devotion  it  is  quoted  sometimes,  as  if  Jesus 
said  to  Mary,  "  Behold  thy  Son  "  —  look  to  me,  the  sufferer. 
But  it  was  not  so.  He  said,  "  Behold  him  who  will  be  to 
thee  a  son  and  a  protector  in  this  weary  world."  There  is 
something  very  grand  in  this.     "  Woman,  behold  thy  son." 

He  reminds  her  of  the  marriage  feast  at  Cana  of  Galilee, 
when  he  began  his  ministerial  function,  and  Mary  interposed, 
and  he  said,  "  Woman,  what  have  I  to  do  with  thee  ?  "  that 
is,  "  My  relationship  to  thee,  and  thy  relationship  to  me,  are 
now  superseded  by  a  greater  and  a  higher  one."  And  so  he 
speaks  to  her  here,  "  Woman,  do  not  regard  me  as  thy  son. 
I  sustain  a  far  higher  office,  a  far  grander  relationship. 
You  are  a  poor  widow,  indeed ;  you  will  need  support. 
Behold  my  beloved  disciple,  John ;  who  has  been  my  friend, 
and  will  act  toAvards  thee  as  if  he  were  thy  son,  thy  only 
son."  And  he  says  to  John,  "  Behold  her,  and  treat  her  as 
a  mother ;  with  all  the  affection,  the  reverence,  the  regard 
with  which  aiT  affectionate  son  would  treat  his  affectionate 
mother." 

Now  these  words  of  Jesus  are  most  remarkable.'  Amidst 
the  absorbing  scenes  of  the  cross,  he  recollects  that  Mary 
would  now  be  left  desolate.  He  thinks  of  finding  for  her 
an  earthly  home  whilst  he  is  paying  by  his  blood  the  awful 
price  of  her  everlasting  home.  He  thinks  of  a  thing  so 
minute  that  an  ordinary  sufferer  would  never  have  had  time 
to  recollect  it.  And  whilst  engaged  in  a  tragedy  so  grand 
that  all  eternity  will  commemorate  it,  he  turns  aside  for  one 
moment  to  think  of  an  incident  so  minute  that  one  wonders 
that  he  thought  it  worth  his  while  to  take  notice  of  it  at  all. 


372  scuirTUUE  readings. 

And  yet,  how  like  God  was  it,  who  descends  in  nature  to 
polish  the  wing  of  a  beetle,  or  to  powder  the  wing  of  a  but- 
terfly, or  to  shape  the  sting  of  a  bee,  with  a  precision,  a 
beauty,  an  exquisite  care,  as  great  as  if  he  had  nothing  else 
to  do  in  the  world  but  to  accomplish  these  tiny  and  beautiful 
processes.  Is  it  not  true  in  nature  that  the  butterfly  seems 
to  have  had  as  much  care  expended  in  beautifying  it  as  a 
fixed  star  has  in  arranging  and  polishing  it?  Does  not  the 
law  strike  us  as  lying  legible  upon  every  acre  of  our  world, 
that  there  is  nothing  so  minute  that  God  does  not  perfect  it 
as  if  it  had  occupied  all  his  care,  while  there  is  nothing  so 
great  as  to  be  beyond  his  reach,  his  cognizance,  and  his  con- 
trol ?  God,  speaking  from  the  ends  of  the  earth  as  Creator, 
shows  that  minute  things  and  magnificent  things  are  equally 
his  care  ;  God  speaking  from  the  cross  shows  that  tlie  pur- 
chase of  an  eternal  home  for  a  lost  race,  and  the  providing 
of  a  temporary  home  for  a  suffering  mothcM",  were  equally 
Avithin  the  reach  of  his  regards,  equally  occupying  his  heart, 
and  engaging  his  sympathy. 

Notice  in  this  fact  an  instance  and  proof  of  filial  affection. 
Jesus  was  the  perfect  man  whilst  he  was  also  God.  He 
acted  as  truly  as  the  Son  of  Mary  as  he  acted  as  the  Son  of 
God  ;  and  he  was  as  perfect  in  fulfilling  the  relationships  of 
the  lower  level  as  he  was  in  fulfilling  the  relationships  of  the 
higher.  There  is  no  nook  or  cranny  in  the  human  heart,  no 
eddy  or  winding  in  the  stream  and  current  of  social  being  ; 
no  relationship  in  life,  that  Christ  did  not  enter,  and  on 
which  he  has  not  left  the  footprints  of  his  presence  ;  exam- 
ples, precedents,  encouragements  for  all  that  shall  follow  in 
future  generations.  And  if  there  be  one  affection  more  beau- 
tiful than  another,  it  is  the  responsive  affection  that  a  son  or  a 
daughter  bears  to  a  mother.  Exhaust  society  of  this  beauti- 
ful relationship,  and  it  will  corrupt  and  go  to  ruin  in  very 
decay.  The  bonds  and  links  of  life  are  these  beautiful 
relationships ;  and  whoever  tries  to  snap  them  in    sunder, 


JOHN  XIX.  373 

or  to  waste,  exhaust,  and  wear  them  out,  does  violence  to 
society  itself,  and  is  guilty  of  treachery  to  its  first  and  its 
noblest  interests.  Jesus  is  the  example  of  the  perfect 
brother ;  the  precedent  of  the  perfect  son ;  the  holy,  the 
harmless,  the  undefilcd  in  eveiy  relationship  of  life  ;  God 
manifest  in  the  flesh,  the  grand  ideal  to  which  we  should 
ever  soar,  after  which  we  should  ever  strive,  and  jierfect  con- 
formity to  which  will  be  the  coronal  of  Christian  life  when 
time  and  things  temporal  shall  be  no  more. 

Let  us  notice  here,  the  thorough  poverty  of  the  Son  of 
God.  He  was  constrained  to  say  before  his  crucifixion, 
"  The  foxes  of  the  earth  have  holes  ;  the  birds  of  the  air 
have  nests ;  but  the  Son  of  man  hath  not  where  to  lay  his 
head."  And  in  his  agony,  or,  if  I  might  use  the  expression, 
on  his  death-bed,  the  only  thing  he  had  to  bequeathe  in  his 
solemn  and  last  testament  was  a  mother  without  a  home  to  a 
disciple  that  loved  him,  but  had  little  to  spare  for  himself, 
and  less  for  the  necessities  of  others.  How  remarkable  it 
is,  and  what  a  stain  upon  all  that  man  glories  in,  that  the 
noblest  home  on  which  the  sun  ever  shone,  which  had  no 
precedent  before  it,  and  since  has  had  no  parallel,  was  pov- 
erty-stricken, paor,  and  Igwly,  and  needy.  This  fact  strips 
wealth  of  its  glare,  shows  that  piety  may  be  set  in  poverty  ; 
and  that  where  there  is  no  bright  fire  to  make  the  roof-tree 
shine,  there  may  be  the  warmth  of  heaven  to  raise  the  tem- 
perature of  the  hearts  of  the  inmates,  and  to  give'  them  a 
gladness  and  a  joy  that  the  world  cannot  give,  and  that  the 
world  cannot  take  away.  How  truly  has  poverty  been  con- 
secrated by  the  life ;  how  truly  have  riches  been  cast  down 
by  the  poverty  of  the  Son  of  God,  the  Son  of  Mary ! 

In  all  God's  providential  dealings  there  is  always  a  com- 
pensatory element.  Jesus  is  taken  away  from  supporting 
INIary,  and  John  takes  his  place,  to  be  the  protector,  the 
friend,  and  the  help  of  Mary.  He  never  takes  away  in  his 
providence  any  blessing  without  giving  either  a  heart  that 

32 


374  SCRIPTURK' READINGS. 

is  quiet  in  the  absence  of  it,  or  another  blessing  that  will 
supersede  or  be  a  substitute  for  it.  In  God's  providential 
dealings  he  takes  away  the  sight  of  the  eye  ;  and  he  quick- 
ens the  sensibility  of  the  ear.  He  takes  away  the  sensibility 
of  the  ear ;  but  he  quickens  the  delicacy  of  the  touch.  And 
if  he  has,  in  many  a  case,  taken  away  all  together,  he  has 
left  nevertheless  more  than  a  compensation  for  all  the 
feeling  that  gives  birth  to  the  magnificent  sentiment,  "  The 
Lord  gave^  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away ;  blessed  be  the 
name  of  the  Lord."  Jesus  left ;  John  was  given  to  Mary 
to  occupy  his  place. 

Jesus  plainly  regarded  ministration  to  Mary  not  as  a  bur- 
den, but  as  a  privilege.  If  we  have  a  right  estimate  of 
what  Jesus  was,  we  regard  the  heaviest  duty  that  he  enjoins 
less  as  a  load  difficult  to  be  borne,  more  as  a  privilege  we 
should  run,  like  a  strong  man,  joyously  and  gladly  to  enjoy. 
John  was  specially  loved;  therefore  John  was  singled  out  to 
be  specially  laden.  On  his  best  soldiers  Jesus  lays  generally 
the  heaviest  loads.  It  is  the  truest,  the  bravest,  and  the  best 
that  are  placed  in  the  van ;  it  is  the  most  beloved  that  is 
here  burdened  with  the  greatest  responsibility.  Some  of  the 
rest  of  the  college  of  apostles  were  richer,  but  none  loved 
so  much,  because  none  were  so  much  loved  before.  Hence 
Jesus  does  not  select  Nicodemus,  a  disciple,  and  a  very  rich 
one ;  nor  yet  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  another  discij^le,  and  a 
very  great  one ;  but  he  selects  for  the  most  responsible  bur- 
den him  who  had  risen  most  in  grace ;  as  if  to  be  a  parallel 
occurrence  to  that  beautiful  instance  in  the  11th  chapter  of 
John,  "  He  whom  thou  lovest  is  "  —  what  ?  Rich  —  great 
—  successful  —  strong  ?  No ;  but  —  "  sick  ; "  nay,  sick  be- 
cause thou  lovest  him.  "  For  what  son  is  he  whom  the 
father  chasteneth  not  ?  "  So  he  that  loved  most  here,  and 
was  loved  most  before,  is  laden  most  with  duty  and  responsi- 
bility. But  John  felt  the  load  light  for  the  love  that  he  bore 
him,  as  Jacob  felt  seven  years  to  be  as  seven  days,  for  the 
affection  that  he  had  to  Rachel. 


JOHN  XIX.  375 

We  read  next,  that  John,  the  moment  that  he  received 
the  charge,  took  her  to  his  own  home  —  John  instantly  com- 
plied with  the  prescription.  He  did  not  say,  "  Master,  shall 
I  be  able  to  provide  for  another  inmate  for  my  home  ? 
Shall  I  have  wealth  enough  for  the  years  to  find  bread  for 
my  home,  still  more  for  an  addition  to  that  home  ?  He 
did  not  say,  "  I  must  go  home,  and  talk  the  matter  over 
there,  and  see  if  there  be  room."  He  did  not  say,  "  Shall 
I  be  able  to  gain  bread  for  so  many  mouths  to  eat  ?  "  but 
the  instant  that  duty  was  laid  upon  him,  he  complied  with 
the  prescription,  knowing  well  that  them  that  honor  God  he 
will  honor ;  and  that  if  we  do  his  will  and  seek  his  kingdom 
first,  all  other  things  will  be  added  unto  us.  Therefore,  in 
the  language  of  one  of  old,  "  Withhold  not  good  from  them 
to  whom  it  is  due,  \vhen  it  is  in  the  power  of  thine  hand  to  do 
it.  Say  not  unto  thy  neighbor.  Go,  and  come  again,  and  to- 
morrow I  will  give  ;  when  thou  hast  it  by  thee."  When 
you  are  asked  to  engage  in  something  that  is  questionable, 
study,  pause,  hesitate,  discuss  it.  When  you  are  asked  to 
do  what  is  plainly  duty,  do  not  interpose  an  argument  be- 
tween the  hand  and  the  purse ;  but  obey  impulse.  Do  not 
listen  to  logic  ;  it  is  a  grace  that  the  heart  should  regulate, 
not  the  head.     "  Give  to  him  that  asketh." 

Now  after  Mary  was  thus  taken  to  the  home  of  John,  we 
read  no  more  of  her  —  and  I  think  the  very  silence  of 
Scripture  is  most  significant  in  this  matter  —  till  she  ap- 
pears in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  where  it  is.  said,  "  These 
all  continued  with  one  accord  in  prayer  and  supplication : 
with  the  women,  and  Mary  the  Mother  of  Jesus,  and  the 
brethren."  She  takes  her  place  with  the  rest  of  the  Chris- 
tian congregation,  a  worshipper  before  the  footstool,  not  a 
goddess  elevated  to  a  throne.  I  know  not  any  thing  that  is 
more  decisive  evidence  of  the  inspiration  of  this  Book  and 
the  inspiration  of  Him  who  is  its  subject,  and  of  those  that 
wrote  it,  than  tliis  one  fact,  —  that  wherever  Mary  occurs 


376  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

in  the  Gospels,  it  is,  if  not  to  find  a  home  and  a  shelter  in 
the  midst  of  her  poverty,  to  receive  a  rebuke,  however  tender 
it  may  have  been,  yet  real,  for  interposing  her  shadow  before 
or  beside  the  Son  of  God.  In  the  marriage  feast  at  Cana 
of  Galilee,  wlien  she  tried  to  interpose  the  jurisdiction  of  a 
motliCr,  and  to  dictate  to  her  son  a  miracle,  —  "  They  have 
no  wine,"  —  the  reply  was,  "  Woman  "  —  the  language  of 
respect,  but  indicating  the  lapsing  of  the  human  relationship 
into  the  divine  —  "  woman,  what  have  I  to  do  with  thee  ?  " 
or,  as  it  ought  to  be  translated,  "  What  hast  thou  to  do  with 
me  ?  "  As  if  he  w^ould  tell  her,  "  Now,  I  begin  the  hour 
and  power  of  my  agony  and  bloody  sweat.  I  must  tread 
the  winepress  alone,  and  of  the  people  none  must  be  with 
me.  I  must  walk  life's  flinty  road  alone,  and  not  even  a 
mother  can  there  comfort  me.  I  must  suffer  alone  ;  I  must 
pay  the  penalty  alone ;  I  must  endure  the  death  of  the  cross 
alone  :  and  therefore  I  must  have  all  the  glory  alone  through- 
out everlasting  ages.  Not  a  mother's  tear  must  mingle  with 
the  blood  of  her  incarnate  and  her  dying  Son.  Mine  is 
all  the  agony,  and  mine  must  be  all  the  glory.  There- 
fore, Mary,  retire  into  the  shadow.  Your  relationship  is 
lost,  your  jurisdiction  is  gone.  I  am  noAV  alone  with  the 
Father." 

On  another  occasion,  when  one  came  to  him,  and  said, 
"  Thy  mother  and  thy  brethren  are  standing  without ;  "  and 
on  another  occasion  when  they  said,  "  Blessed  is  the  womb 
that  bare  thee  ;  "  his  answer  was  most  significant.  "  Yea, 
rather,  blessed  are  they  that  hear  the  word  of  God  and  do 
it."  How  is  it  possible,  then,  to  fail  to  see  that  Jesus  antici- 
pated by  a  previous  arrangement  the  awful  Mariolatry  that 
would  be  substituted  for  living  and  scriptural  religion  ? 
They  said,  "  Blessed  is  she,  because  of  her  relationship  to 
thee,  and  thy  relationship  to  her ; "  but  he  said,  "  There  is 
a  tie  far  stronger,  far  brighter,  that  supersedes  it,  and  shall 
last  when  it  is  past  and  gone  for  ever.     Rather,  blessed  is 


JOHN  XIX.  377 

the  humblpst  Christian  woman,  in  tbe  lapse  of  the  next 
eighteen  centuries,  tliat  reads  my  word  and  does  it."  And 
after,  that  Mary  disappears.  Not  an  allusion  to  lier  is  in  the 
Epistles  ;  not  a  liint  about  what  was  due  to  her  in  the  Apoc- 
alypse. And  she  herself,  —  with  all  the  spirit,  the  affec- 
tion, and  the  love  of  a  Christian  of  the  noblest  order,  for 
that  she  was  ;  she  was  privileged,  highly  privileged  in  being 
the  mother  of  the  Son  of  man  ;  but  she  was  privileged  far 
more  in  being  one  of  the  most  quiet,  gentle,  consistent,  holy, 
happy  Christians  that  ever  adorned  the  Church  of  Christ 
from  that  day  to  this,  —  retired  in  silence.  And  so  little 
idea  had  she  of  being  worshipped,  that  she  gave  expres- 
sion to  her  own  happy  feelings  in  the  language  of  her  heart, 
when  she  said,  "  My  soul  doth  magnify  "  —  not  myself,  but 

—  "  the  Lord  ;  and  my  spirit  doth  rejoice  "  —  not  in  my 
privileges,  but  —  "  in  God  my  Saviour."  "  My  Saviour  !  " 
Who  needs  a  Saviour  ?  A  sinner  ;  and  so  she  owned  her- 
self a  sinner,  dependent  on  a  Saviour  ;  a  worshipper  mag- 
nifying him :  she  had  not  the  remotest  idea  that  she  would 
be  placed  where  Rome  has  placed  her,  in  the.  room  of  God 
himself. 

I  utter  these  words  not  in  the  popular  way  in  which  they 
are  spoken.  I  have  the  evidence  in  the  celebrated  Psalter 
of  St.  Bonaventure.  I  have  got  all  the  editions  of  it,  at 
least  most  of  them,  from  the  year  1400,  in  Latin,  —  the 
very  first  impression  printed  after  the  death  of  the  saint, 

—  down  to  French  and  Italian  editions,  printed  in  1852 
and  1853.  I  have  got  somewhere  about  fifteen  or  sixteen 
copies  and  editions  of  it.  And  every  one  of  these  books, 
sanctioned  by  the  Church  of  Rome,  written  by  a  person 
canonized  in  that  Church,  for  whom  there  is  this  collect  re- 
peated every  July  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  ;  "  O 
God,  who  didst  give  blessed  Bonaventure  tq  be  a  minister 
of  salvation,  grant  that  we  may  be  instructed  by  what  he 
taught,  and  benefited  by  his  intercession."     And  what  did 

32* 


378  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

he  teach  ?  Why,  he  takes  that  magnificent  thing,  the  Psal- 
ter, the  Psahns  of  David  ;  and  out  of  every  Psahn  he  ex- 
punges, deUberately,  most  carefully,  without  a  single  failure, 
"  God,"  "  Lord  ;  "  and  puts  in  most  carefuUy,  witiiout  a 
single  omission,  "  Mary,"  "  Our  Lady."  For  instance,  he 
says  in  the  95th  Psalm, "  O  come,  let  us  sing  unto  our  Lady  ; 
let  us  heartily  rejoice  in  the  Virgin  that  brings  us  salvation." 
In  the  51st  Psalm,  "  Have  mercy  upon  me,  O  Lady,  who 
art  called  the  Mother  of  mercies ;  and  according  to  thy 
great  compassion  forgive  me  all  my  sin."  In  the  110th 
Psalm,  "  The  Lord  said  unto  my  Lady,  Sit  thou  at  my  right 
hand,  until  I  make  all  thine  enemies  thy  footstool."  And 
more  than  that  ;  Dr.  Wiseman  has  acknowledged  it,  and 
quoted  it,  and  sanctioned  it,  and  commended  it  to  the  faith- 
ful in  his  diocese  —  the  so-called  diocese  in  which  we  have 
the  honor  to  be  placed  as  a  congregation  and  church  at  this 
moment.  I  ask,  is  there  not  in  the  treatment  of  Mary  in 
this  blessed  Book,  a  prophetic  anticipation  of  the  homage 
that  would  be  given  to  her  ?  And  the  homage  is  not  only 
defended  by  him,  but  also  that  acute  and  powerful  intellect, 
Dr.  Newman,  who  left  the  Church  of  England  because  he 
says  it  has  not  the  comfort  that  the  Church  of  Rome  has, 
delivered  a  series  of  lectures,  one  of  which  is  upon  —  the 
glories  of  the  Son  of  God  ?  no,  "  The  Glories  of  Mary." 
In  it  he  proceeds  to  show  that  Mary  is  the  Mother  of  God. 
This  is  false.  How  can  a  creature  be  the  mother  of  the 
Creator  ?  She  is  the  mother  of  Jesus  and  of  his  humanity  ; 
he  is  God,  but  Mary  is  not  the  mother  of  God.  And  then 
he  makes  the  remark,  "  The  Church  agrees  to  this,  that  the 
Son  and  mother  went  together.  And  the  experience  of  three 
centuries  has  proved  that  they  who  have  honored  Mary  have 
worshipped  the  Son,  w'hile  they  who  cease  to  confess  the  Son 
begin  by  scoffing  at  Mary." 

Now  I  never  heard  the  Protestant  Church  scoff  at  Mary. 
When  I  speak  of  Mary,  if  a  Roman  Catholic  be  present,  I 


JOHN  XIX.  379 

always  calWher  the  blessed  Mary.  She  is  blessed ;  all  gen- 
erations will  call  her  blessed.  But  that  is  not  deifying  her. 
"  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart ;  blessed  are  the  meek."  I 
have  no  objection  to  call  her  blessed  any  more  than  I  have 
to  call  the  pure  and  the  meek  so.  Never  withhold  the  con- 
cession of  a  prejudice  that  does  not  compromise  a  principle, 
when  it  will  conciliate  an  opponent,  or  make  those  listen 
whose  hearts  are  closed  to  your  arguments  otherwise.  Dr. 
Newman  goes  on  to  say,  that  "  She  is  the  defence  of  the 
Deity  of  Jesus.  Mary,"  he  says,  "  is  a  specimen,  and  more 
than  a  specimen  of  what  man  was  before  his  fall.  She  was 
sinless  and  immaculate."  Now  how^  he  can  show  that,  I 
cannot  see.  Jesus  was  immaculate  ;  because,  "  The  Holy 
Spirit  shall  come  upon  thee  ;  and  that  holy  thing  that  shall 
be  boi-n  of  thee  shall  be  the  Lord  Christ."  But  she  was  a 
woman,  born  after  the  manner  of  men,  and  therefore  a  sin- 
ner ;  and  she  acknowledged  herself  to  be  so.  He  adds,  "  It 
was  she  that  triumphed  where  E.ve  had  fallen.  Nothing  is 
too  high  for  her  to  whom  God  owes  his  life."  What  a  mon- 
strous notion  is  here  !  It  is  said  of  the  ancient  Spartans 
that  when  they  wished  to  keep  their  sons  from  drunkenness, 
they  made  their  Helots,  or  their  slaves,  drunk,  that  their 
sons  might  see  what  a  horrible  and  debasing  vice  drunkenness 
was.  And  so,  if  you  wish  to  see  what  the  intoxicating  cup 
of  Rome  makes  the  noblest  spirit,  the  most  gifted  and  pow- 
erful intellects,  read  the  writings  of  Dr.  Newman,  or  Arch- 
deacon Manning,  when  they  were  members  of  the  Protestant 
<!!hurch  ;  and  then  study  their  portraits  after  they  have  been 
drugged  by  the  intoxication  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  The 
transition  is  so  terrible  that  you  need  no  argument  of  mine 
to  make  you  thankful  that  you  are  privileged  to  belong  to  a 
Church  where  the  Bible  is  open,  where  the  Gospel  is  free, 
and  where  Christ  is  all  and  in  all. 

And,  not  satisfied  with  this,  he  goes  on  to  say,  "  She  un- 
derwent death."     He  admits  so  much.     Now  thei'e  is  dis- 


380  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

• 

union  in  his  Church  here.  Some  say  she  did«ot  die,  and 
all  that  she  was  assumed  into  heaven.  "  But  though  she 
died,"  says  Di".  Newman,  "  she  died  not  as  others  die.  She 
died,  but  her  death  was  a  mere  fact,  not  an  effect ;  and  when 
it  WAS  over,  it  ceased  to  be."  Now  where  did  he  get  this  in- 
formation ?  Not  in  the  Bible.  Her  death  even  there 
is  not  recorded.  And  if  her  death  was  a  fact,  wiry 
was  it  a  fact  ?  What  is  that  fact  the  evidence  of?  The 
echo  of  a  truth.  And  what  was  that  truth  ?  "  Sin  en- 
tered, and  death  by  sin."  If  she  was  immaculate,  and 
died,  she  must  have  died  as  an  atonement  as  Christ  did: 
if  she.  died  not  as  an  atonement,  then  she  died  because  she 
was  a  sinner,  as  men  die.  And  therefore  her  death  was  not, 
as  he  sophistically  styles  it,  a  fact  only,  but  an  effect  also. 
If  it  was  a  fact,  it  must  have  been  an  effect,  and  the  effect 
of  sin.  "  Sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  so  death  passed 
upon  aU  men ;  for  all,"  not  excepting  the  Virgin  Mary, 
"  have  sinned."  I  quote  these  words  of  his,  and  of  the 
Psalter  to  which  I  have  referred,  merely  to  show  how  com- 
plete is  the  contrast  between  the  simple  and  beautiful  record 
of  Mary's  life  in  the  word  of  God,  and  the  niche  in  which 
Mary  is  placed  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  One  won- 
ders how  it  is  possible  for  sane  men  to  accept  the  Mary 
of  Rome ;  still  more  marvellous  that  such  men  as  Ai'ch- 
deacon  Manning,  for  instance,  should  ever  have  passed  over 
to  such  a  wretched  superstition.  When  one  reads  his  early 
wi'itings,  so  beautiful,  so  full  of  love,  though  often  wrong, 
one  is  grieved  to  see  such  a  terrible  eclipse.  I  can  only  ex- 
plain it  upon  an  awful  principle ;  and  a  principle  that  ex- 
plains many  of  the  perversions  of  the  day.  Men  begin 
first  of  all  to  play  with  Rome,  to  tamper  with  her.  They 
go  and  see  her  shows  ;  they  are  tired  of  the  opera,  or 
they  think  the  opera  very  secular,  and  they  want  a  more 
spiritual  one ;  they  are  tired  of  the  world's  pleasures, 
and   they   want  other   pleasures.     They  visit  the  operatic 


joiix  XTX.  *  381 

•worship  of  Rome.  By  and  by  they  try  to  plead  and 
apologize  for  it,  and  exphxin  it.  And  it  is  a  great  law, 
that  if  you  go  upon  Satan's  ground,  and  make  apologies  for 
Satan's  acts,  and  tamper  with  what  you  ought  to  renounce, 
reprobate,  and  shrink  from,  you  run  the  risk,  that  has  been 
often  exemplified,  of  becoming  victims  to  your  own  folly ; 
and  the  awful  result  takes  place,  written  by  an  apostle  him- 
self, —  "  Wherefore,  because  they  received  not  the  love  of 
the  truth,  that  they  might  be  saved ;  for  this  cause  God 
shall  send  them  strong  delusion,  that  they  should  believe  a 
lie  ;"  the  awful  retribution  of  past  sins,  the  consummation 
of  inconsistency  just  where  it  ceases  to  be  indiscretion,  and 
becomes  crime. 


CHAPTER  XIX.  38-40. 

TYPES   OF    CUARACTER. — TIMID     CHRISTIANS.  —  PROGRESS. —  REA- 
SONS   OP    RETIREMENT. 

The  Gospel  is  full  of  characters.  Each  is  a  precedent, 
a  beacon,  and  a  lesson.     Here  are  two  :  — 

"  And  after  this  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  being  a  disciple  of 
Jesus,  but  secretly  for  fear  of  the  Jews,  besought  Pilate  that 
he  might  take  away  the  body  of  Jesus  :  and  Pilate  gave 
him  leave.  And  there  came  also  Nicodemus,  which  at  the 
first  came  to  Jesus  by  night,  and  brought  a  mixture  of  myrrh 
and  aloes,  about  an  hundred  pound  weight.  Then  took 
they  the  body  of  Jesus,  and  wound  it  in  linen  clothes  with 
the  spices,  as  the  manner  of  the  Jews  is  to  bury." 

Here  are  two  characters,  representatives  and  types  of  one 
distinctive  character,  in  common,  "Joseph  of  Arimathea,  a 
disciple  of  Jesus,  but  secretly  for  fear  of  the  Jews,"  and 
Nicodemus,  a  chief  ruler  and  rabbi  of  Israel,  a  disciple  also, 
but  who  could  only  come  to  Jesus  by  night,  to  learn  from 
his  lips  the  words  that  never  fell  from  the  lips  of  man  be- 
fore. At  the  close  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  Luke,  we  studied 
one  of  these  characters,  and  the  features  in  its  composition 
therein  delineated,  "  There  was  a  man  named  Joseph,  a 
counsellor;  and  he  was  a  good  man,  and  a  just:  (the  same 
had  not  consented  to  the  counsel  and  deed  of  them ;)  he  was 
of  Arimathea,  a  city  of  the  Jews :  who  also  himself  waited 
for  the  kingdom  of  God."  These  features  and  characteris- 
tics delineated  tliere  in  the  person  of  Joseph,  I  have  already 

(382) 


JOHN  XIX.  383 

dwelt  upon.  The  peculiar  featui-c  incidental  to  both  in  the 
passage  here  selected,  is  their  secret  discipleship  or  their 
hidden  Christianity,  and  this  I  will  take  as  the  special  topic 
of  my  present  remarks.  We  have  seen  Joseph  of  Ariraa- 
thea,  at  the  close  of  the  Gospel  of  Luke  ;  the  other  charac- 
ter, Nicodemus,  appears  twice  in  this  very  Gospel.  He  ap- 
pears first  in  the  Avell-known  passage  in  the  third  chapter  of 
John,  where  we  read,  "  There  was  a  man  of  the  Pharisees, 
named  Nicodemus,  a  ruler  of  the  Jews,"  a  person  of  high 
ecclesiastical  dignity,  "  the  same  came  to  Jesus  by  night," 
afraid  to  be  seen  coming  to  one  so  lowly,  and  so  little  thought 
of,  by  day  —  and  began  that  discourse  with  him  which 
ended  in  the  instructive  lessons  contaijied  in  that  most  pre- 
cious chapter. 

We  have  the  same  character,  Nicodemus,  turning  up 
again  in  the  seventh  chapter  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  John, 
where  we  read  that  when  Jesus  was  unjustly  and  unfairly 
dealt  with,  this  Christian,  afraid  to  make  himself  prominent, 
shrinking  even  from  making  himself  known  as  a  Christian, 
yet,  when  Jesus  was  unjustly  accused,  stood  forward  and 
said,  "  Doth  our  law  judge  any  man,  before  it  hear  him,  and 
know  what  he  doeth  ?  "  And  the  Evangelist  calls  up  there 
the  character,  the  title  he  had  earned  by  his  pusillanimity, 
for  such  it  was ;  "  Nicodemus,  the  same  that  came  unto 
Jesus  by  night,  being  one  of  them,  said,  Doth  our  laAv  judge 
any  man,  before  it  hear  him,  and  know  what  he  doeth  ?  " 
and  then,  "  they  answered  and  said  unto  him,  Art  thou  also 
of  Galilee  ?  "  He  -svas  almost  detected  then,  —  almost  foimd 
out  to  be  a  Christian.  He  had  said  a  thing  over  bold  for 
the  world's  discretion,  too  candid  for  the  world  not  to  see 
through  it,  and  there  nvas  nearly  detected,  what  he  should 
have  declared,  the  fact  that  he  was  a  Christian.  And  again 
in  the  passage  which  we  have  read  his  character  is  brought 
up,  "  And  there  came  also  Nicodemus,  whicli  at  the  first 
came  to  Jesus  by  night,  and  brought  a  mixture  of  myrrh." 


384  SCKIPTURE    READINGS. 

We  notice  in  the  character  of  Nicodemus,  obvious  growth. 
At  first  he  comes  by  night,  and  says,  "  Rabbi,  we  beheve 
that  thou  art  a  teacher  come  from  God,"  —  that  I  am  con- 
vinced of.  After  a  little  more  acquaintance  with  the  truth, 
he  takes  a  bolder  step,  and  interposes  amid  the  infuriated 
crowd,  priests,  and  Sadducees,  and  rabble,  and  says,  "  Doth 
our  law  judge  any  man  before  he  get  a  fair  hearing?" 
Here  was  the  advocacy  of  Christ.  And  now  at  last  his  Chris- 
tianity breaks  out  in  its  brightest  lustre,  when  he  takes  the 
crucified,  believed  by  all  about  him  to  be  a  malefactor,  iden- 
tifies himself  with  Christ  in  his  shame,  his  humiliation,  and 
his  lowliness,  and  makes  provision  for  the  burial  of  that  body 
which  was  the  shrine  in  which  Deity  itself  for  a  season 
dwelt.  "We  thus  see  that  real  Christianity  grove's.  The 
dawn,  the  grey  and  the  misty  dawn  —  the  brightening  morn- 
ing—  the  meridian  day.  But  still  it  was  a  faulty  Chris- 
tianity. Real  as  it  was,  true  as  it  was,  it  was  yet  faulty. 
Either  he  ought  not  to  have  been  a  Christian  at  all,  or  he 
ought  to  have  been  one  openly.  Either  the  thing  was  bad, 
and  he  ought  to  have  had  nothing  to  do  with  it,  or  the  thing 
was  good,  and  it  ought  to  have  governed,  and  directed,  and 
given  tone  and  shape  to  his  whole  character  and  conduct  in 
every  place. 

Another  of  precisely  the  same  character  was  Joseph  of 
Arimathea.  He  did  not  come  by  night,  but  he  was  a  Chris- 
tian "  secretly,  for  fear  of  the  Jews."  To  ascertain  what 
that  meant,  Ave  have  to  refer  to  those  passages  in  which  the 
expression  "  for  fear  of  the  Jews  "  occurs.  The  first  passage 
that  I  find  it  in  is  in  the  9th  chapter  of  this  very  Gospel,  at 
the  22d  verse ;  where  we  read,  "  These  words  spake  his 
parents,  because  they  feared  the  Jews."  The  explanation 
is  given,  "  For  the  Jews  had  agreed  ali-eady,  that  if  any  man 
did  confess  that  he  was  Christ,  he  should  be  put  out  of  the 
synagogue."  We  have  the  same  thing  explained  in  the  12th 
chapter,  at  the  42d  verse,  where  we  read,  "Nevertheless, 


JOHN  XIX.  385 

among  the  chief  rulers  also  many  believed  on  him;  but  be- 
cause of  the  Piiarisees  they  did  not  confess  him,  lest  they 
should  be  put  out  of  the  synagogue :  for  they  loved  the 
praise  of  men  more  than  the  praise  of  God."  You  will 
therefore  see  that  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  being  a  person  of 
high  consideration,  —  Nicodemus  an  ecclesiastic,  Joseph  of 
Arimathea  a  distinguished  ruler,  wealthy,  powerful,  respected, 
looked  up  to,  —  naturally  felt  that  if  he  allied  himself  openly 
and  publicly  with  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  consequence  would 
be  his  degradation  from  his  lofty  position  in  the  estimate  of 
the  people.  They  would  say,  "  What !  one  of  our  great 
nobles  identifying  himself  with  such  a  sect ;  descending  to 
worship  with  a  company  of  fishermen,  and  publicans,  and 
tax-gatherers,  and  the  very  lowest  of  the  people  ;  "  —  for  it 
was  the  common  people  then  that  constituted  almost  the 
whole  body  of  Christians ;  —  "  this  is  too  bad  :  he  acts  con- 
trary to  the  customs  of  the  fathers." 

And  this  so  acted  upon  both,  that  the  great  ecclesiastic 
would  not  openly  descend  from  the  chair  of  Moses  to  listen 
at  the  feet  of  Jesus  ;  and  the  great  patrician  could  not  lay 
his  glory  humbly  in  the  dust  in  the  presence  of  him  who  he 
believed  in  his  conscience  was  the  promised  Messiah,  the 
Saviour  of  Israel. 

You  see  then  how  very  careful  we  should  be  in  judging. 
Because  we  do  not  see  all  the  Christian  virtues  we  could 
desire,  or  because  Christianity  is  not  expressed  by  people  so 
eloquently  as  it  sometimes  is,  or  because  it  is  not  lived  so 
openly  and  emphatically  as  it  ought  to  be,  we  must  not  say 
there  is  no  Christianity  ;  but  rather  prudently  and  charitably 
say,  it  may  be  Christianity,  yet  secret,  for  fear  of  the  world. 
Criminal  such  secrecy  is ;  but  nevertheless  we  see  what  we 
cannot  deny,  that  secrecy  of  character  may  yet  be  consistent, 
or  father,  may  coexist,  with  reality  of  Christian  character. 
These  two  men  were  undoubted  Christians,  undoubted  be- 
lievers on  Jesus,  and  yet  they  had  not  moral  courage  to 

33 


386  SCKIPTURE    READINGS. 

avow  their  adhesion  to  his  cause,  their  confidence  in  his 
merits,  their  readiness  to  follow  him  through  good  report  and 
tln-ough  bad  report.  "We  do  not  justify  such  secrecy,  we  con- 
denni  it ;  all  that  I  ask  is  that  we  should  be  slow  to  judge 
where  we  might  only  be  mistaken,  or  be  guilty  of  that  un- 
charitableness  Avhicli  proscribes  instead  of  prays,  and  pro- 
nounces sentence  instead  of  wishing  well. 

Let  us  see  if  we  can  ascertain  some  of  the  reasons  why 
people  are  Christians  secretly.  The  fear  of  the  Jews  is  a 
nonentity  now,  but  the  substance  of  that  fear  is  undoubtedly 
a  reality  still.  "What  is  the  reason  that  many  people —  not 
many  I  hope,  but  some  —  like  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  dis- 
tinguished for  their  rank ;  or,  like  Nicodemus,  elevated  in 
ecclesiastical  power ;  are  afraid  of  being  found  out,  or  hesi- 
tate to  avow  whose  they  are,  on  what  side  they  are,  and  that 
Christianity  is  not  only  the  creed  they  subscribe,  but  the  life 
that  they  feel  within  them?  The  first  reason  that  I  would 
venture  to  mention  is  that  we  do  not  see  living  religion  ;  for 
I  mean  by  Christianity  —  let  me  explain  —  not  the  fashion- 
able profession  of  outward  ecclesiastical  form,  which  is  cur- 
rent enough,  and  which  anybody  can  accept,  without  the 
least  sacrifice  or  the  least  descent.  It  is  quite  fashionable 
now  to  be  baptized  ;  it  is  fashionable  enough  to  go  to  the 
communion  table,  to  go  to  church ;  anybody  can  do  that, 
there  is  no  sacrifice  there,  there  is  no  great  martyrdom  ex- 
perienced in  this,  —  at  least  in  very  few  cases  may  the  mar- 
tyrdom occur.  But  what  we  mean  by  Christianity  is  the 
proper  avowal,  the  avowal,  when  required,  of  Protestant, 
evangelical,  out  and  out  Christianity.  That  is  what  we 
mean  by  it.  Well  now,  what  is  the  reason  that  many  are 
real,  devoted,  earnest  Christians  in  our  day  yet  do  not  ven- 
ture to  avow  it;  or  are  so  by  night,  but  not  by  day,  for  fear 
of  something  external  to  themselves  ?  The  first  reason  p^)b- 
ably  is,  that  the  majority  of  mankind  is  not  yet  upon  the  side 
of  true  religion  ;  and  we  all  naturally  like  to  go  with  the  cur- 


jouN  XIX.  387 

rent ;  we  do  not  like  to  have  to  breast  it,  to  stem  it,  to  re- 
sist it.  We  all  like  to  be  like  other  people,  and  to  tliink 
with  other  people ;  and,  to  use  the  proverb,  to  do  in  Rome 
as  Rome  does,  and  in  Constantinople  as  the  Mufti  does.  We 
all  like  this ;  it  gives  us  no  trouble,  it  is  the  easiest  thing 
in  the  world  ;  if  we  only  keep  with  the  stream  we  shall  be 
floated  downwards.  The  law  of  gravitation  in  the  natural 
world,  and  the  law  of  sin  in  the  spiritual  world,  make  it  most 
easy  to  be  the  followers  of  the  majority.  Now  the  majority 
are  not  upon  the  side  of  true  religion ;  they  evidently  show 
that  they  are  not  so.  And  when  we  learn  this,  we  feel  it  a 
struggle  to  take  up  a  position  that  the  world  will  not  accept, 
to  take  a  course  that  the  world  will  not  fall  in  with,  and  to 
stand  for  principles  that  the  majority  can  see  no  meaning, 
force,  or  reality  in. 

Another  reason  perhaps  is,  that  the  majority  of  the  rich, 
and  the  great,  and  the  noble,  are  not  on  the  side  of  living 
religion.  It  was  so  in  the  days  of  Paul,  and  I  fear  it  will  be 
so  till  we  shall  all  be  righteous.  It  is  written,  "  Not  many 
mighty,  not  many  rich,  not  many  noble  are  called."  We 
are  thankful  there  are  some,  but  the  fact  is  that  there  is  not 
a  great  multitude.  The  day  will  come  when  the  noble  shall 
feel  most  ennobled  by  the  acceptance  of  the  G.ospel,  when 
the  rich  shall  feel  richest  in  the  possession  of  Christ  Jesus, 
and  all  shall  be  righteous.  But  that  day  is  not  come,  and 
we  know  that  in  this  country  especially,  the  example  of  the 
influential  in  rank  has  great  power  ;  the  precedent  of  the  rich, 
the  great,  and  the  noble  has  great  effect ;  and  hence,  when  you 
find  the  noble  and  the  great  accepting  living  religion,  and 
appearing  at  a  communion  table,  not  in  form,  but  from  the 
deep  impulse  of  the  heart,  you  have  an  influence  there,  the 
weight  of  which  —  I  do  not  say  whether  it  ought  to  be,  but 
that  it  is  everybody  knows  —  and  the  limits  of  which  it  is 
impossible  to  calculate.  But  at  present  the  fact  is  not  so. 
There  is  a  mighty  change  for  the  better  among  the  higher 


388  SCKIPTURE    KEADINGS. 

classes.  They  begin  to  feel  now  that  a  mere  title  will  not 
give  power,  and  precedent,  and  greatness  ;  that  it  must  be 
sustained  by  intrinsic  merits,  literary  excellence,  and  knowl- 
edge ;  and  when  these  things  exist  together  witli  living 
Christianity,  then  the  influence  is  most  powerful.  But  at 
present  not  many  noble,  not  many  rich,  not  many  wise  in 
this  world  are  called,  and  the  tendency  of  thousands  is  to 
go  where  the  great,  the  noble,  the  rich,  the  wealthy  go  ;  and 
to  shrink  from  an  avowal  that  will  not  have  an  authority 
where  fashion  has  its  chief  and  its  central  seat.  But  yet 
it  ought  not  to  be  so,  for  truth  is  covered  with  a  fadeless 
glory,  when  her  only  advocates  are  martyrs,  and  cap- 
tives, and  prisoners  ;  and  falsehood  is  base  and  degrad- 
ing even  when  kings  and  pi'inces  bow  down  to  give  it 
worship. 

Another  reason  why  men  are  Christians  in  secret,  or  are 
afraid  of  avowing  Christ  openly,  is  that  they  arc  afraid  of 
what  such  confession  will  necessitate  and  imply.  They  say, 
"  If  we  avow  our  Christianity  we  must  keep  up  the  consist- 
ent course  that  that  avowal  demands.  We  must  have  a  con- 
sistent walk  ;  we  must  adopt  a  self-denying  course ;  we  must 
disoblige  some  that  we  very  highly  esteem.  We  must  walk 
separate  from  some  that  want  us  to  walk  with  them.  We 
must  ever  tict  under  the  impulse  of  a  constraining,  a  cease- 
less, a  heavenly  principle.  We  are  not  altogether  prepared 
for  this.  We  know  it  is  our  duty  ;  our  principles  impel  us 
in  that  direction.  But  we  should  like  to  wait,  to  pause  a 
little  ;  we  should  like  to  be  Christians  a  little  longer  by 
niglit ;  we  should  like  to  believe  a  little  longer  in  secret. 
We  hope  the  day  will  come  when  we  shall  openly  declare 
ourselves,  but  it  is  not  come  yet."  Others  again  do  not 
avow  their  Christianity,  from  a  sensitive  fear  of  professing 
more  than  they  actually  feel,  and  can  keep  up.  I  believe 
that  this  is  not  unfrequent ;  and  when  one  weighs  this  fear, 
we  learn  it  is  more  a  mistake  than  a  crime.     The  fear  of 


JOHN   XIX.  389 

making  a  profe.-sion  tliat  we  cannot  consistently  maintain,  is 
a  very  estimable  feature  ;  it  is  a  mistaken  one,  yet  still  it  is 
such  as  one  can  easily  palliate,  and  may  easily  forgive. 
But  if  I  address  any  such,  you  forget  that  the  same  princi- 
ple that  puts  you  in  the  right  course,  the  same  grace  that 
gives  you  power  to  avow  your  adoption  of  that  course,  will 
give  you  strength  as  your  day  is,  and  be  sufficient  for  you, 
to  enable  you  manfully,  and  nobly,  and  consistently  to  up- 
hold the  truth  as  it  is  in  Christ  Jesus. 

Another  cause  of  this  secret  religion  is  the  dread  of  re- 
proach —  the  dread  of  reproach  and  persecution  for  Christ's 
sake.  "We  know  that  just  in  proportion  as  Nicodemus  be- 
came bold,  in  the  same  proportion  he  was  laid  open  to 
rejjroach.  "  Art  thou  also  one  of  them  ?  art  thou  also  of 
Galilee  ?  "  And  men  who  stand  high  in  this  world,  men 
who  have  sensitive  minds  —  and  some  minds  unsanctified 
are  sensitive,  and  when  sanctified  they  are  still  more  deli- 
cately so  —  do  not  like  reproach.  They  do  not  like  to  be 
called  fanatics,  methodists,  over  religious,  or  by  some  other 
name  which  the  world  selects  for  them.  They  do  not  like 
to  be  persecuted,  not  by  fagot  and  flame,  but  by  the  sly 
innuendo,  by  the  smart  paragraph,  by  the  clever  witticism, 
by  being  turned  into  ridicule.  But  you  may  depend  upon  it 
that  the  day  is  come  Avhen  people  must  just  go  straight  for- 
ward, doing  all  the  good  that  they  can,  fulfilling  the  duty  that 
devolves  upon  them,  standing  fixed  and  immovable  by  their 
principles ;  and  the  shame  and  reproach  that  comes  in  the 
path  of  duty  will  be  like  the  cloud  of  a  day,  it  will  give  place 
to  the  sunshine  of  to-morrow  ;  and  the  persecution  that  meets 
you  in  the  path  of  duty  is  a  persecution  that  you  can  easily 
endure,  because  sustained  by  a  principle  that  will  enable  you 
to  master  it ;  and  the  witticism,  the  innuendo,  the  sarcasm, 
the  satire  of  Sunday  newspapers,  is  the  highest  compliment 
that  can  be  paid  to  a  Christian  ;  it  is  irresistible  evidence 
that  he  is  doing  some  damage  to  the  enemy's  cause,  or  the 


390  scuu'TURi':  headings. 

enemy  would  not  so  rej)el  the  assault ;  and  therefore,  ■when- 
ever you  are  assailed  by  the  good,  when  you  are  spoken  evil  of 
by  the  good,  examine  yourselves  ;  there  is  something  wrong, 
or  they  have  become  uncharitable.  But  when  you  are  re- 
pi'oached  by  the  bad,  then  rejoice  and  be  exceeding  glad  ;  it 
is  evidence  you  are  doing  some  good,  or  the  enemy  would 
not  resist  and  oppose.  But  still  there  are  persons  who  are 
not  John  Knoxes,  or  Martin  Luthers,  or  men  that  can  bear 
the  power  of  reproach  and  contumely  a,nd  contempt,  but 
who  have  shrinking,  hesitating  natures,  intense  reserve,  who 
do  not  wish  to  live  in  the  light.  It  was  so  in  former  days. 
Peter  was  the  manly  conti'oversialist ;  John,  who  was  with 
him,  was  the  meek,  retiring,  quiet  disciple.  So  in  the  days 
of  the  Reformation,  Martin  Luther  was  the  hero,  always  in 
the  van  ;  Melanchthon,  though  more  learned,  far  more  learned 
than  Luther,  as  devotedly  Christian,  yet  could  not  carry  on 
a  discussion  with  a  single  priest,  nor  venture  to  attack  pub- 
licly a  single  Popish  abuse.  It  was  his  nature,  it  was  his 
sensitive  temper,  and  he  could  not  overcome  it.  It  may 
have  been  his  misfortune,  or  it  may  have  been  his  sin  ;  it 
was  rather  the  former.  So  it  has  been,  and  so  it  will  be. 
But  each  is  answerable  for  the  gift  that  he  has,  and  those 
that  cannot  eloquently  speak  Christianity,  may  quietly  and 
beautifully  live  it.  Each  has  his  own  talent,  each  his  own 
sphere.  But  if  reproached  or  persecuted  for  Christ's  sake, 
your  encouragement  is  not  mine,  it  is  not  what  I  have  said, 
but  it  is  that  of  our  Blessed  Lord,  who  said  in  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount,  "  Blessed  are  ye  when  men  shall  revile  you  and 
persecute  you,  and  shall  say  all  manner  of  evil  against  you 
falsely  for  my  sake."  What  should  you  do  ?  Be  very 
much  vexed,  very  much  annoyed,  very  mueh  cast  down  ? 
Just  the  reverse  :  "  Rejoice,  and  be  exceeding  glad,  for  gi-eat 
is  your  reward  in  heaven."  Why  your  reward  in  heaven  ? 
Because  evidently  you  are  doing  good ;  your  light  is  shin- 
ing, the  darkness  comprehends  it  not ;  and  therefore  "  re- 


JOHN  XIX.  391 

joice,  and  be  exceeding  glad."  You  are  in  the  company 
of  them  which  are  the  Lord's,  "  for  so  persecuted  they  the 
prophets  which  were  before  you."  What  does  a  man  care 
in  a  well-roofed  house,  that  the  hail  beats  upon  its  roof? 
It  cannot  touch  him.  "What  cares  the  sailor  in  a  noble  ship, 
witlropen  sea  room,  for  the  storm?  It  cannot  touch  him. 
The  Christian  has  Avithin  him  a  compensatory  joy  that  ought 
to  make  him  brave  the  stoinn,  face  the  opposition,  and  be 
satisfied  that  secret  Christianity  is  not  the  highest  aspect  of 
Christian  character.  If  it  be  infirmity,  it  may  be  forgiven  ; 
if  it  be  criminal,  it  must  be  renounced  ;  that  they  who  come 
by  night  at  last  may  avow  Chi'ist  by  day,  and  they  that  are 
secretly,  for  fear  of  the  Jews,  may  be  Christians  manfully, 
in  spite  of  all  mankind. 

"What  is  there  in  Christianity  that  should  make  any  per- 
son hesitate  openly  to  avow  it  ?  I  have  shown  what  are 
personal  reasons ;  I  might  now  show  that  there  is  nothing  in 
this  religion  of  ours  that  ought  to  make  us  secret  Christians. 
Wliat  is  there  to  be  ashamed  of?  Not  surely  of  its  Author. 
True,  he  suffered,  but  it  was  for  us  ;  true,  he  was  a  Man  of 
Sorrows,  but  he  was  no  less  the  mighty  God :  true,  he  was 
laid  in  a  grave,  but  he  was  yet  the  Occupant  of  a  throne. 
He  was  God  as  well  as  man,  a  sacrifice  to  the  fury  of  men, 
that  he  might  be  the  Saviour  of  the  souls  of  mankind.  There 
is  nothing  in  One  so  holy,  so  great,  so  spotless,  so  perfect,  so 
self-sacrificing,  for  any  one  to  keep  secret.  It  is  worth  pub- 
lishing ;  to  be  his  disciple  is  worth  proclaiming ;  and  to  be 
so  secretly  seems  inconsistency.  In  the  doctrines  that  he 
taught,  there  is  nothing  that  one  need  keep  secret.  Nations 
prosper  as  they  are  inspired  by  them  ;  man  grows  happy  as 
his  nature  grows  holy.  And  wherever  the  principles  and 
precepts  of  Christianity  are  most  deeply  written,  there  the 
fruits  that  beautify  the  social  world,  and  bless  mankind,  are 
most  richly  developed.  Heaven  embosoms  the  earth  just  in 
the  ratio  in  which  its  inhabitants  take  hold  of  the  Gospel  of 
Christ. 


392  SCUU'XURE    READINGS. 

There  is  nothing  tliat  we  may  keeji  secret  about  its  pro- 
gress. If  it  had  been  promoted  by  fraud,  like  Romanism, 
then  I  miglit  keep  it  secret ;  or  witli  the  scimitar,  like  Ma- 
hometanism,  then  I  might  keep  it  to  myself.  But  it  has 
made  its  way  by  the  majesty  of  its  own  truth  and  greatness. 
It  has  gathered  its  noblest  trophies  and  obtained  its  greatest 
triumphs  by  the  power  of  truth,  impressed  by  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.  It  has  never  used  force,  at  has  never 
sanctioned  the  sword.  These  things  have  been  used  in  its 
name,  but  in  its  injured  name,  and  inspite  of  it  sown  decis- 
ions ;  and  therefore,  instead  of  keeping  such  a  religion  se- 
cret, there  is  every  reason  in  the  world  for  boldly  avowing  it. 

If  the  learned  and  the  wise  that  adhere  to  it  are  not  the 
majority  of  its  adherents,  yet  it  is  true  that  more  learned 
men  are  on  the  side  of  Christianity  than  there  have  been 
for  a  century  before.  The  star  still  guides  the  learned  of 
the  earth  to  the  lowly  manger  of  the  Son  of  God  ;  and  the 
wisest,  at  this  moment,  the  best  and  the  greatest  spirits,  are 
the  acceptors  and  professors  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  And 
in  all  probability  not  to  discourage  us,  there  are  more  in  the 
world  than  we  are  aware  of.  There  are  seven  thousand 
that  have  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal,  when,  like  the  prophet, 
we  may  be  saying,  "I  only  am  left."  Let  us  not  judge  ;  let 
us  not  denounce  as  unchristian  them  that  do  not  proclaim 
their  religion  upon  the  house-top.  Yet  let  us  admit  that 
though  secrecy  of  profession  may  be  compatible  with  the 
reality  of  Christian  life,  it  is  a  grievous  stain,  a  great  insult, 
and  the  sooner  it  is  renounced  and  abjured  the  better.  Cal- 
culate the  cost,  estimate  what  follows,  and  then  avow  boldly 
—  not  ostentatiously,  but  boldly,  when  called  upon,  whose 
you  are,  and  whom  you  serve,  "  and  him  that  confesseth  me 
before  men,  I  will  confess  before  my  Father  which  is  in 
heaven." 


JOHN  XIX.  393 

Note.  —  [29. J  The  oiof  was  tlie  posca,  the  sour  wine,  the  vinegar  and 
water,  the  common  drink  of  the  Roman  soldiers.  [vaatjizG).]  An  aro- 
jnatic  plant  growifig  on  walls,  common  in  the  south  of  England,  and 
on  the  continent,  with  blue  or  white  flowers,  and  having  stalks  about 
one  and  a  lialf  foot  long,  which  would  in  this  case  belong  enough, — 
the  feet  of  the  crucified  person  not  being  ordinarily  raised  above  that 
distance  from  the  ground.  It  was  much  used  for  sprinkling,  Exod. 
xii.  22  ;   Levit.  xiv.  4  ;  Ps.  li.  7. — Alford. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

NOT   FICTION. WOMAN.  —  INCKEDULITT  OP   RESURRECTION. — THE 

LINEN  CLOTHES  IN    THE  SEPULCHRE. MARY  AT   THE    SEPULCHRE. 

EAR      CORRECTIVE     OP     EYE. MARY     HOLDING     JESUS. HIS 

WORD. IDENTITY  OF  CHRISt's  BODY. RECOGNITION. INVES- 
TITURE OP  APOSTLES. ABSOLUTION. THE  LEPROSY. SCEP- 
TICISM OF  THOMAS. 

Can  a  single  reader  of  the  beautiful  narrative  in  this 
chapter,  for  one  moment  hesitate  to  believe  that  it  is  a  pic- 
ture of  a  reality  ?  Can  any  one  suppose  for  a  moment  this 
record  to  be  fiction  ?  Does  not  every  touch  in  it  indicate 
the  presence  of  an  original  ?  and  the  very  artlessness  of  the 
story,  and  the  incredulity  of  them  that  have  attested  the 
great  truth  that  is  here  stated,  proves  only  the  more  that 
this  is  the  description  of  fact,  and  not  a  novel,  a  romance,  or 
a  chapter  or  episode  to  interest,  amuse,  and  strike.  On  the 
first  day  of  the  week,  it  aj^pears,  a  woman  last  at  the  cross, 
as  we  saw  in  the  previous  chapter,  a  weeper  at  the  suffer- 
ings of  the' Man  of  Sorrows,  is  first  at  the  resurrection  with 
the  earliest  dawn,  and  sees  what  startles  her,  because  she 
did  not  anticipate  his  resurrection  from  the  dead,  —  the  stone 
rolled  away  from  the  sepulchre.  The  moment  that  she  saw 
this,  suspecting  that  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  had  taken 
away  the  body  of  him  whom  she  loved,  she  ran  to  Simon 
Peter,  and  to  the  other  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved  —  that  is, 
John  the  writer  of  the  Gospel,  —  "and  saith  unto  them,  they 
have  taken  away  the  Lord  out  of  the  sepulcln-e,  and  we 
know  not  where  they  have  laid  him."  She  did  not  believe 
he  would  rise ;  and  the  testimony  of  others   that  they  saw 

(394) 


JOHN  XX.  395 

him  after  he  was  risen,  is  the  less  impeachable,  because  of 
the  previous  inci'edulity  with  which  they  received  the  tid- 
ings that  he  would  actually  rise.  We  then  read  that 
*'  Peter  went  forth,  and  that  other  disciple,"  that  is,  John  — 
Peter,  then  an  old  man,  and  John,  a  young  man ;  and  how 
true  to  nature !  "  they  ran  both  together,  and  the  other  dis- 
ciple," the  young  man,  "  did  outrun  Peter,"  the  old  man, 
"  and  came  first  to  the  sepulchre."  But  youth  shows  first 
its  timidity.  John  stooped  down  and  looked  in,  and  saw  the 
linen  clothes  lying ;  he  was  afraid,  and  therefore  went  not  in. 
But  Peter,  with  all  the  boldness  but  yet  the  precipitancy 
that  was  his  peculiar  characteristic,  went  into  the  sepulchre, 
and  saw  the  linen  clothes  lying.  And  then  it  is  stated  very 
minutely,  "  And  the  najakin  that  was  about  his  head,  not 
lying  with  the  linen  clothes,  but  wrapped  together  in  a  place 
by  itself." 

But  why  record  this  very  minute  and  trifling  incident? 
The  answer  is.  It  is  very  important.  The  fact  that  the  linen 
clothes  in  which  the  body  of  the  Lord  of  Glory  was  wrapped, 
were  thus  carefully  rolled  up  and  laid  aside,  is  one  of  the 
triumphant  proofs  that  there  was  no  precipitancy  in  the  res- 
urrection ;  that  the  charge  of  the  Pharisees  was  unfounded, 
that  his  disciples  came  and  stole  the  body  by  night ;  for  if 
they  had  done  so,  and  amidst  the  Roman  guard,  every  thing 
would  have  been  left  in  confusion,  instead  of  being  arranged 
just  as  if  the  arrangement  had  been  meant  to  last  for  ever. 
The  little  incident,  therefore,  apparently  accidental,  is  one  of 
the  most  striking  proofs  of  the  reality  of  the  account  of  the 
resurrection  of  Christ  from  the  dead.  When  these  disciples 
went  to  their  own  home,  "  Mary,"  still  incredulous,  "  stood 
without  at  the  sepulchre  weeping ;  and  as  she  wept,  she 
stooped  down,  and  looked  into  the  sepulchre,  and  seeth  two 
angels  in  Avhite  sitting,  the  one  at  the  head,  and  the  other  at 
the  feet,  where  the  body  of  Jesus  had  lain."  What  was 
their  shape,  what  was  their  appearance,  there  is  no  recoi'd ; 


396  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

simply  there  appeared  two  celestial  visitants  clothed  in  white 
robes,  bearing  the  impress  of  the  skies.  As  they  aided  him 
in  his  agony,  aided  him  in  his  trials,  so  now  they  came  to 
attest  his  resurrection  from  the  dead,  and  to  be  the  first 
preachers  of  that  glorious  fact,  "Jesus  is  risen  from  the 
dead.  Come  and  see  the  place  where  he  lay."  They  asked 
her  therefore,  "  Woman,  why  weepest  thou  ?  "  Her  answer 
was,  "  Because  they  have  taken  away  my  Lord,"  —  the 
language  of  human  affection,  not  of  divine  attachment. 
And  when  she  had  thus  said,  she  turned  herself,  and  saw 
Jesus,  but  did  not  recognize  him  as  the  Lord  of  Glory. 

It  has  been  tried  to  be  proved  by  some  that  here  is  evi- 
dence that  the  senses  were  deceived  when  looking  upon  the 
risen  Christ ;  and  why,  they  argue,  may  the  senses  not  be 
deceived  when  they  look  upon  a  Roman  Catholic  altar  and 
see  the  bread,  and  not,  as  the  Roman  Catholic  priest  believes, 
the  flesh  and  blood  of  the  Son  of  God  ?  The  answer  is 
very  obvious.  "When  the  mind  is  intensely  occupied  with 
one  thought,  it  is  remarkable  that  the  clock  may  strike,  or  a 
tune  may  be  jilayed  within  a  few  yards  of  your  presence,  — 
you  will  neither  hear  the  clock  strike,  nor  recollect  that  the 
tune  was  played.  An  absorbing  thought  seems  to  lock  up 
all  the  senses,  and  render  them  impervious  to  impressions 
which  would  otherwise  strike  with  lasting  and  remarkable 
effect.  So  Mary  here  was  so  thinking  of  the  grave,  and 
the  dead  One  that  had  lain  in  it,  and  of  the  catastrophe  that 
had  happened  by  his  body  being  removed  and  carried  away, 
that  she  took  no  notice,  no  special,  no  minute  notice  of  the 
stranger  that  addressed  her,  and  knew  not  therefore  that  it 
was  Jesus.  But  you  will  notice  that  the  moment  that  Jesus 
said  to  her,  "  Mary,"  that  moment  she  turned  herself,  and 
said  to  him,  "  Rabboni,  which  is  to  say,  Master."  Thus  the 
hearing  corrected  the  seeing,  and  the  well-known  musical 
tones  of  that  voice  that  had  proclaimed  so  often  on  the  streets  ■ 
of  Palestine,  and  that  had  spoken  from  the  cross  so  emphati- 


-  JOHN  XX.  397 

cally,  the  words  of  everlasting  life,  came  back  upon  her 
hearing  like  sweet  music,  and  she  remembered  him,  and 
turned  round  instantly  and  said,  "  My  Lord  and  my  Master." 
"  Jesus  then  saith  unto  her,  Touch  me  not ;  for  I  am  not  yet 
ascended  to  ray  Father."  It  is  evident  that  when  she  re- 
cognized him  by  her  ear,  having  failed  to  recognize  him  by 
her  eye,  she  wished  to  hold  him  fast,  lest  he  should  be  re- 
moved and  taken  away  from  her.  And  when  she  did  so, 
he  said,  "  Touch  me  not,  for  I  am  not  yet  ascended  to  my 
Father :  but  go  to  my  brethren,  and  say  unto  them,  I 
ascend  unto  my  Father  and  your  Father,  and  to  my  God 
and  your  God." 

]Many  different  interpretations  have  been  given  of  this. 
There  is  one,  I  think,  abundantly  obvious.  "  Touch  me  not, 
for  I  am  not  yet  ascended."  She  evidently  thought  that  he 
had  fulfilled  his  promise :  "  I  go ;  and  again  I  will  come  unto 
you,  that  where  I  am,  there  ye  may  be  also."  She  thought 
that  this  was  his  second  advent,  that  he  that  left  them  sor- 
rowing orphans,  had  returned  to  them  according  to  his 
promise,  to  take  the  throne,  to  sway  the  sceptre,  and  to  reign 
for  ever.  Now  Jesus  corrects  this.  Pie  says,  "  Do  not  hold 
me  as  if  I  were  to  be  a  ceaseless  presence,  for  did  I  not  tell 
you  that  I  should  first  ascend'  to  the  Father,  send  down  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  comfort  you,  and  be  with  you  ;  and  that  then 
after  that,  I  would  come  to  you  again,  that  where  I  am  there 
you  may  be  also  ;  therefore  touch  me  not,  hold  me  not,  for  I 
am  not  yet  ascended ;  and  this,  therefore,  cannot  be  my 
second  advent.  But  go  rather  and  preach  the  glad  news 
that,  according  to  my  promise,  I  am  now  about  to  ascend 
unto  my  Father,  and  therefore  your  Father ;  unto  my  God, 
and  therefore  your  God." 

We  then  read  that  "  Mary  Magdalene  came  and  told  the 
disciples  that  she  had  seen  the  Lord,  and  that  he  had  spoken 
these  things  unto  her.  Then  the  same  day  at  evening,  being 
the  first  day  of  the  week,  when  the  doors  were  shut  where  the 

34 


398  SCRIPTLUE    READINGS. 

disciples  were  assembled  for  fear  of  tlie  Jews,  came  Jesus  and 
stood  in  the  midst,  and  saith  unto  them,  Peace  be  unto  you. 
And  when  he  had  so  said,  he  showed  unto  them  his  hands 
and  his  side.  Then  were  the  disciples  glad,  when  thej  saw 
the  Lord."  How  remarkable  that  Jesus,  after  he  rose  from 
the  grave,  retained  on  his  hands  and  on  his  side  the  marks 
of  the  nails  and  the  spear  that  pierced  them.  It  has  been 
asked,  does  he  retain  the  marks  and  memorials  of  the  cross 
amid  the  realms  of  glory  ?  Probably  not.  His  body  pre- 
vious to  his  ascension  retained  all  the  traces  that  it  had  pre- 
vious to  his  death ;  but  in  all  probability  when  that  body 
arose  in  the  cloud,  and  became  glorified,  those  traces  were 
effaced,  and  ceased  to  be  visible  memoi-ials  of  the  agony 
through  which  he  had  passed.  Hence  some  have  thought 
that  during  the  millennial  reign  of  Christians  upon  earth,  our 
bodies  shall  be  like  our  Lord's  body  between  his  resurrec- 
tion and  ascension,  when  he  mixed  with  the  disciples,  re- 
tained the  marks  of  the  crucifixion,  ate  of  an  honey-comb 
and  a  piece  of  a  broiled  fish  ;  and  that  our  bodies  after  the 
millennial  reign,  when  the  whole  shall  be  restored,  and 
heaven  and  earth  shall  be  one,  will  then  be  made  like  to  his 
glorified  body ;  all  the  mai'ks  and  traces  of  imperfection  be- 
ing expunged,  and  clad  no  longer  in  the  clinging  garments 
of  the  grave,  but  in  the  shining  robes  of  immortality  and 
glory.  At  all  events,  what  we  gather  from  this  is,  that  the 
same  body  that  was  laid  in  the  grave,  a  stone  being  rolled 
over  the  mouth  of  that  grave  and  carefully  sealed,  was  the 
very  same  body  that  rose  again  from  the  dead  ;  and  thus 
and  thereby  the  identity  of  Christ's  body  in  his  resurrection 
was  clearly  and  irrefragably  established.  And  just  as  his 
body  rose  from  the  grasp  of  death  and  ascended  into  heaven, 
so  when  the  trumpet  shall  sound  and  the  dead  shall  be 
changed,  these  very  bodies  of  ours  shall  be  raised  incorrup- 
tible. We  shall  not  be  clad  with  other  bodies  —  that  would  not 
be  a  resurrection,  but  a  second  creation  —  but  we  shall  rise ; 


JOHN  XX.  399 

the  same  bodies  that  were  laid  in  the  dust,  that  have  mingled 
with  the  grass,  that  liave  been  devoured,  it  may  be,  by  the 
beasts  of  the  field,  that  have  mixed  with  the  atoms  of  rocks, 
and  been  Avashcd  by  many  M'aters  to  the  unsounded  sea ; 
when  the  Great  Creator  of  all  shall  speak,  particle  shall 
come  to  particle,  dust  to  dust,  and  we  shall  recognize  each 
other,  not  as  distinctly,  but  more  distinctly,  in  the  light 
of  the  resurrection  morn,  than  we  recognize  and  dis- 
tinguish each  other  now.  I  never  can  believe  that  the  saved 
in  glory  will  not  distinctly  recognize  each  other.  I  never 
will  believe  that  the  images  of  the  beloved  dead,  that  we 
cherish  in  our  memories  as  in  a  picture  gallery,  will  ever  be 
effaced  except  by  the  presence  of  the  originals  themselves. 
And  when  these  shall  meet  and  mingle  together,  and  recount 
all  the  trials,  the  struggles,  and  the  troubles  of  the  way,  ^^'hat 
a  glorious  gathering !  What  a  blessed  group  !  No  wonder 
that  angels  ask,  "  Who  are  these,  and  whence  came  they  ?  " 
Immigrants,  not  natives  ;  colonists,  not  born  {here.  "  These 
are  they  that  have  washed  their  robes,  and  made  them  white 
in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb ;  therefore  are  they  before  the 
throne." 

When  Jesus  appeared  in  the  midst  of  his  disciples,  and 
showed  his  identity,  he  gave  them  a  commission,  "  Receive 
ye  the  Holy  Ghost ;  "  that  is,  I  believe,  the  special  function 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  herein  indicated.  "  Whose  soever  sins 
ye  remit,  they  are  remitted  unto  them ;  and  whose  soever 
sins  ye  retain,  they  are  retained." 

Now  first,  to  whom  was  this  addressed  ?  and  secondly, 
what  does  it  mean  ?  Were  these  woi'ds  addressed  to  the 
apostles  ?  Just  read  the  passage,  and  you  will  find  that  all 
the  disciples  were  assembled.  It  was 'the  first  day  of  the 
week  ;  Mary  Magdalene  was  there.  It  was  not  the  apostles 
only  that  were  met.  but  the  apostles  and  disciples  also.  If, 
therefore,  it  be  a  judicial  power  to  forgive  sin,  as  the  Coun- 
cil of  Trent  says,  it  was  a  prerogative  conferred  not  upon 


400  ■  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

the  apostles  only,  but  upon  all  the  disciples,  on  all  the  men  and 
women  that  were  then  and  there  met  and  assembled  together ; 
and  therefore  would  fail  to  prove  the  special  prerogative  for 
which  it  is  quoted.  The  same  prerogative  is  bestowed  on 
all.  Pastors  and  people  are  in  this  equally  invested  with 
the  function,  and  may  therefore  equally  exercise  it. 

But,  in  the  next  place,  if  it  be  an  apostolical  power,  trans- 
mitted by  apostolical  delegation  to  the  apostles'  successors  in 
every  age,  then  you  will  notice  that  one  apostle  was  not 
present,  and  that  therefore  only  eleven,  or  rather  ten,  were 
thus  invested,  and  one,  Thomas,  was  wanting.  Well  now, 
what  successor  of  the  apostles  —  such  assuming  himself  to 
be  - —  can  prove  to  me  that  his  succession  is  not  that  of 
Thomas  ?  and  if  his  succession  be  from  Thomas,  then  he 
never  got  the  prerogative  of  remitting  and  retaining  sins, 
because  Thomas  was  never  invested  with  it.  No  man  can 
be  absolutely  certain  that  his  succession  is  from  the  ten  that 
were  met  together,  and  not  from  Thomas,  who  never  is 
reckoned  to  have  received  the  gift  that  was  here  bestowed 
upon  those  that  were  assembled  upon  this  occasion. 

But,  in  the  third  place,  what  is  meant  by  the  px'erogative  ? 
Does  it  really  mean  that  every  minister  of  the  Gospel  has 
only  to  pronounce  absolution,  and  the  man  on  whom  he  pro- 
nounces it  is  forgiven  ?  A  Roman  Catholic  priest  says  so, 
and  he  makes  the  thing  very  reasonable  in  its  way  ;  but  for 
a  Protestant  minister  to  say  so,  is  to  mismanage  and  bungle 
it  altogether ;  because,  when  the  priest  absolves,  he  makes 
the  party  to  be  absolved  disclose  the  interior  contents  of  his 
mind,  his  conscience,  his  memory,  his  heart ;  and  when  he 
has  done  so,  then  he  pronounces  absolution.  But  for  a  Prot- 
estant minister  to  attempt  to  pronounce  absolution  without 
the  previous  rite  of  a  thorough  confession,  is  absurd  and  un- 
reasonable ;  and  therefore  those  that  demand  and  insist 
upon  having  the  prerogative  of  absolving,  must  insist  upon 
the  people  entering  upon  the  degrading  and  debasing  practice 


.TOIIN    XX.  401 

of  confessing  their  sins  to  the  priest  or  minister.  But  let  us 
inquire  wliat  is  the  precise  meaning  of  the  words.  Does  it 
mean  a  judicial  or  declarative  absolution  ?  Now  I  think  the 
explanation  of  it  is  perfectly  plain.  In  Leviticus  we  read 
the  story  of  the  leper.  He  was  to  be  brought  to  the  priest ; 
then,  it  is  in  our  translation,  "  The  priest  shall  see  certain 
marks  upon  the  leper,  and  he  shall  pronounce  him  clean. 
But  if  he'  see  certain  other  marks,  the  priest  shall  pi-onounce 
him  unclean."  In  the  original  Hebrew  it  is,  literally  trans- 
lated, "  the  priest  shall  cleanse  him,"  and  "  the  priest  shall 
uncleanse  him."  But  to  uncleanse  and  to  cleanse  is  absurd. 
Besides,  the  leprosy  was  the  disease  over  which  the  priest 
had  no  power  ;  it  was  an  incurable  disease,  except  by  divine 
power,  and  all  that  the  priest  could  do  was  to  watch  the 
symptoms,  and  pronounce  clean  or  pronounce  unclean,  as 
the  symptoms  might  indicate.  But  in  the  original  Hebrew 
it  is  "  cleanse  "  and  "  uncleanse,"  therefore  the  verb  is  used 
absolutely  when  its  sense  is  only  relative ;  it  seems  judicial, 
when  its  meaning  is  truly  declai-ative ;  and  our  translators 
have  therefore  properly  and  justly  translated  it  "  pronounce 
clean  "  and  "  pronounce  unclean." 

Now  John  was  a  Hebrew,  and'  Hebraisms  run  through  all 
the  writings  of  John  ;  in  the  Apocalypse  they  are  very  fre- 
quent, in  his  Epistles  they  are  also  frequent.  And  if  our 
translators  had  translated  the  Greek  according  to  the  same 
principle  on  which  they  have  translated  the  Hebrew,  they 
would  have  rendered  this  verse  thus :  "  Whose  soever  sins 
ye  pronounce  remitted,  they  are  remitted,  and  whose  soever 
sins  ye  pronounce  retained,  they  are  retained."  But  how 
pronounce  ?  Upon  evidence  given  in.  If  the  party  shows 
no  signs  of  repentance,  then  to  say  that  his  sins  are  remitted, 
is  to  state  what  is  untrue.  If  the  party  shows  repentance, 
it  does  not  need  a  priest  to  pronounce  absolution  ;  a  Scrip- 
ture reader  can  do  so.  His  i-epentance  is  either  a  fact,  or  it 
is  not  a  foct.  If  it  be  a  fact,  the  wide  world  may  j)roclaim 
34* 


402  SCRIPTL'KE    READINGS. 

it ;  if  it  be  not  a  fact,  nobody  has  any  business  to  proclaim  it 
at  all.  Therefore  the  simple  meaning  is,  "  Whei'ever  you 
see  the  evidence  of  real  conversion,  of  true  faith,  then  you 
may  say,  on  the  strength  of  this  evidence.  Your  sins  are 
forgiven ;  but  where  there  is  no  such  evidence,  you  have 
no  right  to  say  so,  whether  you  be  priest,  or  prelate,  or 
presbyter.  It  is  not  your  function,  nor  is  it  your  duty  to 
say  so." 

But  the  best  and  most  conclusive  evidence  is  perhaps 
this  —  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  is  a  short  chapter  of  in- 
spired ecclesiastical  history ;  and  that  book  was  written  to 
show  how  the  ajiostles  carried  into  practice  the  prerogatives 
with  which  they  were  invested.  There  we  read,  a  heathen 
jailer  is  suddenly  converted.  He  comes  to  Paul  and  Silas, 
and  says,  "  Sirs,  what  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ? "  If  Paul 
and  Silas  had  been  Romish  i^riests,  they  would  have  said, 
"  Kneel  down  and  confess  your  sins  to  us,  and  after  you 
have  done  so,  we  will,  if  we  think  proper  and  right,  give  you, 
after  a  short  penance,  absolution  and  remission  of  sins."  If 
they  had  been  inspired  with  that  judicial  power,  they  would 
have  done  so.  But  what  did  they  do?  They  answered  in- 
stantly, "  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt 
be  saved."  In  other  words,  they  preached  remission  of 
sins  through  preaching  Christ ;  and  told  the  jailer  of  Phi- 
lippi  that  faith  in  him  was  salvation ;  and  thus  they  car- 
ried into  practical  development  the  prerogative  with  which 
they  were  invested,  "  Whose  soever  sins  ye  remit,  they 
are  remitted ;  and  whose  soever  sins  ye  retain,  they  are 
retained." 

Thomas,  who  was  absent  when  Jesus  appeai-ed,  was  very 
sceptical  when  told  of  it,  and  said  that  he  would  not  believe 
except  he  should  see.  Jesus  condescended  to  his  incredu- 
lity, and  Thomas  beheld  his  hands  and  his  side,  and  be- 
lieved ;  and  then  he  exclaimed,  "  My  Lord  and  my  God." 
In  the  Socinian  version  of  the  New  Testament  there  is  a 


JOHN  XX.  403 

note  upon  this.  Some  of  the  Socinian  and  Roman  Catholic 
notes  on  the  New  Testament  are  contradictory  not  only  one 
with  the  other,  but  each  with  itself;  one  of  the  Unitarian 
notes  says  that  "  My  Lord  and  my  God,"  was  a  rash  excla- 
mation of  Thomas  ;  that  he  exclaimed,  "  My  Lord  and  my 
God ! "  Now  you  see  how  hard  men  are  put  to  it  when 
they  want  to  get  rid  of  the  plain  and  obvious  meaning  of  the 
passage.  If  it  had  been  as  tliey  interpret,  it  would  have 
been,  "  And  Thomas  exclaimed.  My  Lord  and  my  God ! " 
But,  mark  you,  the  words  are,  "  And  Thomas  answered  and 
said  unto  him,  My  Lord  and  ray  God."  So  that  if  the  Uni- 
tarian annotator  had  looked  at  the  passage,  he  would  have 
seen  it  is  not  an  exclamation,  not  a  profane  oath,  but  that 
it  is  addressed  to  Jesus,  and  him  he  calls  "  My  Lord  and 
my  God  ; "  in  other  words,  he  recognized  him  as  God.  Did 
Jesus  repel  this  ?  No,  he  accepts  it  at  once.  He  said, 
"  Thomas,  because  thou  hast  seen  me,  thou  hast  believed ; 
blessed  are  they  that  have  not  seen,  and  yet  have  be- 
lieved." 

What  an  interesting  episode  in  the  life  of  Jesus  !  What 
a  striking  chapter  is  this  !  How  startling  is  it  as  in  the  age 
in  wliich  it  is  written !  Nothing  was  heard  like  it,  nothing 
approaching  it.  Can  you  suppose  that  the  rude  fishermen 
and  publicans  of  Jerusalem  and  Galilee  composed  this  out 
of  tlieir  own  heads  ?  Can  you  suppose  it  an  invention  of 
theirs  ?  The  infidel,  who  believes  that  John  invented  this 
history  out  of  his  own  imagination,  believes  in  a  far  more 
stupendous  miracle,  because  a  stupendous  impossibility,  than 
he  does  who  believes  that  these  are  facts,  and  that  John  re- 
corded them  as  inspired  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God. 


CHAPTER  XX.  30,  31. 

RECORD    OF   WHAT   JESUS   DID. PRETENDED    HISTORIES    WRITTEN 

TRADITION. FAITH. PEOPLE    HAVE  A  RIGHT  TO  THE    BIBLE 

BIBLE      INTELLIGIBLE.  SUFFICIENT.  PRACTICAL     LIFE.    — 

CHRIST    THE    TESTIMONY    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

We  are  told  by  the  Evangelist,  that  "  Many  other  signs 
truly  did  Jesus  in  the  presence  of  his  disciples,  which  are 
not  written  in  this  book  ;  but  these  are  written,  that  ye  might 
believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God ;  and  that 
believing  ye  might  have  life  through  his  name." 

Then  plainly  signs  and  wonders  were  performed  by  the 
Lord  of  Glory,  during  his  pilgrimage  upon  earth,  which  have 
not  been  registered  by  the  sacred  penmen  in  this  or  in  any 
other  of  the  Gospels.  All  that  Jesus  did  essential  or  useful 
to  the  salvation  and  edification  of  his  own,  is  here ;  but  what 
was  merely  of  temporary  value,  or  what  was  thought  by  the 
Source  of  all  light  and  wisdom  not  to  be  necessary  for  the  edi- 
fying of  his  people  in  after  ages,  we  are  informed  in  the  words 
of  the  saci'ed  Evangelist,  have  not  been  entered  in  this  book. 
The  same  wisdom  that  inspired  the  record  of  the  signs  that 
are  here,  has  forbidden  the  record  of  the  signs  that  are 
not  here.  And  one  can  see,  in  fact,  some  reason  for  it.  If 
all  that  Jesus  did  and  said  in  the  course  of  his  ministry  of 
three  years  upon  earth  had  been  recorded,  instead  of  the 
Four  Gospels  being  so  short  as  they  are,  they  would  have 
formed  a  heavy,  unmanageable,  impracticable  mass  ;  and  the 
complaints  of  those  who  object  to  the  Bible  because  it  is 
now  so  large,  would  have  had  something  like  a  shadow  of 

(404) 


JOHN   XX.  405 

reason  if  that  volume  had  been  swelled  to  six  or  eight  times 
its  present  size.  One  can  see,  therefore,  some  shadow  of 
reason  for  the  omission  of  many  of  the  signs  that  Jesus  did, 
while  one  is  comforted  with  the  blessed  assurance  that  all 
that  we  need  to  know,  all  that  it  was  good  for  us  to  know, 
all  that  could  contribute  to  our  comfort,  have  been  written 
and  recorded. 

In  all  books  external  to  this  book  we  have  no  authentic 
record  of  any  of  the  signs  and  miracles  that  Jesus  did. 
Certain  records  have  been  made  up  that  allege  to  be  the 
registers  of  signs  and  miracles  that  Jesus  did ;  in  the  first 
four  centuries  of  the  Christian  era,  especially  in  the  fourth, 
several  Gospels,  so  called,  made  their  appearance.  There 
is  "  The  Gospel  of  Nicodemus,"  "  The  Gospel  of  the  Infan- 
cy," as  it  has  been  called ;  but  it  needs  but  the  most  ordi- 
naiy  critical  acumen  to  see  that  they  contain  allusions  to 
facts  and  phenomena  that  belong  to  the  third  century,  and 
that  their  style  and  manner  of  expression  all  demonstrate 
that  they  were  written  at  the  time  we  prove  them  to  have 
been  written,  300  years  after  the  events  recorded  in  these 
chapters  actually  took  place.  And  secondly,  the  contrast 
between  the  signs  and  miracles  recorded  in  the  Gospels,  and 
the  puerile,  and  absurd,  and  anile  signs  and  miracles  recorded 
in  the  Apocryphal  Gospels,  is  such  a  contrast  as  only  exists 
between  fable  and  fact,  between  night  and  day,  between  the 
,  ravipgs  of  fanaticism  and  the  sober  words  of  honesty  and  of 
truth.  You  must  not  go  away  with  the  notion  that  there 
ever  was  real  difficulty  in  settling  what  is  the  Gospel  and 
what  is  not.  Facts  are  demonstrative  that  these  documents 
were  written  four  centuries  afterwards,  by  men  that  were  not 
inspired,  and  indeed  scarcely  pretended  to  be  so ;  and  the 
evidence  is  just  as  conclusive  that  these  four  Gospels  were 
written  during  or  immediately  after  the  events  by  men  that 
■were  eye-witnesses  of  all  the  facts  and  phenomena  which 
they  record,  and  they  are  accordingly  the  Word  of  God,  the 
inspired  revelation  of  his  holy  and  his  blessed  will. 


406  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

The  Evangelist  says,  "  These  things  are  writteyi."  The 
word  "  Scripture,"  so  frequent  on  our  Hps,  is  just  the  woi'd 
for  writings ;  and  the  fact  that  the  Evangehst  here  dechires 
these  things  to  be  written,  is  evidence  disproving  what  the 
Romanist  alleges,  that  no  command  was  given  to  the  apostles 
to  write  the  Bible.  We  own  that  in  the  Gospels  there  is  no 
command,  "  write,"  though  there  is  in  the  Apocalypse  ;  but 
if  the  evangelists  were  inspired  men,  which  the  Romanist 
will  admit,  and  if  the  evangelists  say  they  wrote  these  things, 
then  either  they  did  what  they  were  bidden,  or  they  did  what 
they  were  forbidden.  If  they  did  what  they  were  forbidden, 
then  they  acted  contrary  to  their  instructions,  and  inconsis- 
tently with  their  professions ;  but  if  they  have  written,  then 
the  fact  that  they  wrote,  and  record  that  they  did  so,  is  proof 
that  they  wei'e  commanded,  and  commissioned,  and  inspired 
to  write  ;  and  therefore  the  allegation  that  the  apostles  were 
not  commanded  to  write,  and  that  the  Bible  is  to  be  classified 
with  other  traditions,  falls  to  the  ground  the  moment  that 
we  read  such  a  passage  as  this,  — "  These  things  are 
written."  And  we  thank  God  and  bless  his  name  that  they 
are  written.  The  fixity  of  writing  is  most  precious  ;  the 
precariousness  of  oral  tradition  is  almost  proverbial.  In  the 
antediluvian  world  they  had  nothing  but  oral  transmission  or 
tradition,  and  under  the  influence  of  it,  the  whole  earth  cor- 
rupted its  way ;  and  when  there  were  but  three  links  between 
Adam,  the  first,  Methuselah,  the  second,  and  Noah,  the  Jbird. 
—  when  three  persons  spanned  the  antediluvian  age  —  yet, 
with  only  these  three  links  in  the  chain  of  tradition,  they 
lost  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  all  flesh  corrupted  its  way. 
We  do  not  want  to  repeat  the  experiment ;  it  has  been  made ; 
it  has  been  a  signal  failure. 

Now  God  has  left  us  —  not  tradition,  wdiich  may  be  dis- 
torted, and  always  necessitates  so  many  things  for  its  perfec- 
tion that  the  elements  of  a  pure  tradition  never  existed  upon 
earth :  it  implies  a  faithful  memory,  faithful  teaching,  and 


JOHN  XX.  407 

no  bias  in  the  heart,  no  taint  in  the  nature  ;  it  implies  such 
pure  vessels  to  transmit  the  pure  contents  from  vessel  to 
vessel  as  are  only  to  be  found  in  heaven,  where  tradition  is 
not  necessary.  But,  to  save  all  the  risks  incidental  to  such 
transmission,  we  read,  "  These  things  are  written."  The 
comments  vary  like  the  clouds  in  the  sky ;  the  written  texts 
remain  bright  and  luminous  like  the  stars  beyond  them  for 
ever  and  ever.  The  comments  vary  like  the  mists  upon  the 
mountain  top ;  but  the  comment  and  the  mists  are  dissolved 
together,  and  the  fixture  of  the  Bible  remains  an  ever- 
lasting stereotype,  reasoning  in  its  own  majestic  and  im- 
pressive tones,  incapable  of  being  repressed  or  suppress- 
ed, of  righteousness,  and  temperance,  and  judgment  to 
come. 

That  faith  which  is  here  mentioned  as  so  essential  to  our 
salvation,  is  not  a  blind  belief  of  mere  assertion,  but  the 
product  of  thorough  evidence  and  investigation.  "What  does 
John  assert  here  ?  "  These  things  are  written,  that  ye  may 
believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ."  That  is,  that  in  the  exer- 
cise of  judgment,  collecting,  comparing,  investigating  the 
facts  and  phenomena  here  recorded,  you  may  build  your 
conclusion  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God.  The 
pope  asks  you  to  give  up  your  reason,  that  he  may  infallibly 
teach  you  ;  an  inspired  evangelist  bids  you  exercise  your 
reason,  that  you  may  be  savingly  instructed.  If  the  one  be 
right,  the  other  must  be  utterly  and  entirely  wrong.  Faith 
is  not  implicit  or  blind  submission  to  ecclesiastical  authority, 
or  to  the  Church ;  it  is  the  result  of  the  exercise  of  investi- 
gation in  the  written  word.  He  does  not  say,  "  These  things 
are  written  that  ye  may  believe  in  the  Church  ;  "  but,  "These 
things  are  written,  that  ye  may  believe  that  Jesus  is  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God." 

The  faith  of  the  Protestant  Christian  is  an  enlightened 
faith.  It  is  not  what  the  Romanist  would  call  it,  —  ration- 
alism ;  it  is  not  what  the  infidel  would  call  it,  —  blind,  im- 


408  SCRIPTUKE  READINGS. 

plicit,  and  unquestioning  credence ;  but  the  result  of  con- 
clusions firmly  believed,  because  rested  on  the  surest  and  the 
strongest  foundation  ;  whereas  the  creed  again  of  the  Ro- 
manist is  a  blind  and  implicit  reception  of  a  testimony,  not 
upon  the  authority  of  the  Evangelist,  not  as  the  result  of 
investigation,  but  of  confidence  in  the  Church,  or  the  priest, 
or  whatever  be  the  authority  that  occupies  that  place  in  his 
creed. 

This  process,  that  every  man  is  to  read  the  Bible,  and  on 
the  facts  recorded  in  the  Bible  to  conclude  that  Jesus  is  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  is  evidence  indirectly  that  the  peo- 
ple must  have  the  Bible  in  their  own  hands.  How  can  you 
read  what  is  written,  in  order  to  believe  that  Jesus  is  the 
Christ,  if  the  Bible  is  to  be  locked  up  and  kept  out  of  your 
hands  ?  Does  not  this  statement  imply  that  without  the 
Bible,  the  written  book  in  your  hands,  you  cannot  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  Jesus  is  the  Clirist  ?  This  is  no  dispar- 
agement of  the  preached  word ;  it  is  only  the  vindication  of 
the  written  word.  And  when  the  preacher  takes  the 
written  word,  and  proclaims  what  is  there,  his  testimony,  in 
proportion  as  it  is  pure  and  true,  is  only  the  multiplied  echo 
of  the  grand  original.  But  here  it  is  obviously  implied  that 
the  people  are  to  have  the  written  book,  in  order  that  the 
people  may  comprehend  what  is  not  a  sacei'dotal,  nor  an  ec- 
clesiastical, but  a  saving  thing,  —  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ, 
the  Son  of  God. 

The  Bible  must  be  an  intelligible  book  ;  because,  if  these 
things  be  written  that  you  may  believe  that  Jesus  is  the 
Christ,  and  if  this  implies  that  you  must  have  the  book,  it 
involves  a  step  further ;  the  book  must  be  capable  of  being 
understood.  And  how  could  it  be  otherwise  ?  Shall  coun- 
cils be  able  to  write  canons  that  the  people  can  understand ; 
and  shall  the  God  of  heaven  address  letters  to  his  creatures 
upon  earth,  so  imperfect  that  they  cannot  understand  them  ? 
Is  it  not  the  fact  that  every  epistle  in  the  New  Testament, 


jOHx  XX.  409 

except  three,  was  addressed  to  the  laity,  and  not  to  tlie  clergy 
or  the  ministers  of"  the  Gospel  as  such  ?  And  is  it  not  fact, 
that  the  apostle  himself  says  to  a  people  that  he  was  teach- 
ing, "  If  Ave  "  —  an  apostle  —  "  or  an  angel  from  heaven 
preach  to  you  any  other  gospel  than  that  which  ye  have  re- 
ceived, let  him  be  anathema  ?  "  What  does  this  imply  ? 
That  the  people  had  a  standjjrd  to  which  they  could  refer, 
and  that  standard  was  an  intelligible  book ;  for  to  have  it, 
and  not  to  be  able  to  comprehend  it,  would  be  equivalent  to 
not  having  it  at  •all. 

This  book  that  the  people  may  have,  and  can  understand, 
is  sufficient  to  convince  you  "  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the 
Son  of  God ;  that  believing  ye  may  have  life  through  his 
name."  "  These  things  are  written  that  ye  might  believe, 
and  that  believing  ye  might  have  life."  Does  not  this  prove 
that  the  Bible  is  sufficient  to  make  wise  unto  salvation  ?  but 
do  you  say,  the  passage  applies  only  to  this  Gospel  ?  I  at 
once  concede  it.  But  what  follows?  If  this  Gospel  alone 
is  sufficient  to  make  you  wise  unto  everlasting  life,  then  a 
fortiori  the  four  Gospels  and  the  whole  New  Testament  to- 
gether, must  be  sufficient  to  make  you  wise  unto  everlasting 
life.  But  does  every  Protestant  then  who  has  the  Bible  be- 
lieve on  Jesus,  and  believing,  have  life  through  his  name  ? 
I  say  at  once.  No.  But  whose  fault  is  it  ?  Not  the  insuffi- 
ciency of  the  book,  but  something  wrong  or  improper  in  the 
reader  of  the  book.  And  what  we  need  in  order  to  have  all 
right,  is  not  an  addition  to  the  Bible,  but  a  change  of  the 
heart  of  the  reader  of  the  Bible  ;  the  removal  of  the  preju-- 
dices  from  his  mind.  For  feJie  great  defect  is  not  in  the  book, 
but  in  the  reader  of  the  book.  If  a  man  be  blind,  what 
would  be  the  use  of  doubling  the' intensity  of  the  noonday 
sun  ?  He  would  see  no  better.  And  if  the  fault  be  n<it  in 
the  book,  but  in  the  blind  understanding  of  the  reader  of  it, 
what  we  ask  the  Holy  Spirit  to  do,  is  not  to  maki;  the  Bible 

35 


410  SCEirTURE    HEADINGS. 

plainer  or  larger,  but,  "  Open  thou  mine  eyes,  O  Lord,  that 
I  may  see  wonderful  things  out  of  thy  law." 

We  admit  —  botli  the  Romanist  and  we  admit  —  that  the 
Bible  is  not  always  efficient ;  but  we  allege  it  is  always  suffi- 
cient. The  Romanist,  believing  that  the  Bible  is  not  always 
efficient,  adds  tradition  and  the  opinion  of  the  Church  ;  we,  be- 
lieving that  the  Bible  is  not  always  efficient,  pray  for  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  enlighten  the  minds  and  open  the  eyes  of  the  readers 
of  the  book.  Hence  the  Romanist  disparages  God's  book,  by 
adding  man's  tradition  to  it  in  order  to  make  it  perfect ;  the 
Protestant  glorifies  God,  and  exalts  his  book,  and  owns  the 
fault  is  in  the  reader,  and  prays  that  God  the  Spirit  would 
open  the  eyes  of  him  that  reads,  that  he  may  understand  it. 

We  have  evidence  in  the  book  itself  that  the  truths  it  con- 
tains have  been  able  to  lead  to  everlasting  life.  The  Ethi- 
ojiian  ruler  riding  in  his  chariot  and  reading  Isaiah,  asked 
explanation,  which  is  reasonable  enough.  Because  we  al- 
lege the  sufficiency  of  the  Bible,  we  do  not  deny  the  neces- 
sity of  the  teacher,  tlie  preacher,  and  the  commentator.  Be- 
cause we  vindicate  God's  book  from  the  aspersions  of  man, 
we  do  not  throw  down  and  trample  on  another  oixlinance  of 
God,  which  is  equally  an  ordinance  as  well  as  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  Bible.  When  this  Ethiopian  ruler  read  Isaiah, 
the  moment  that  he  saw  it  referred  to  Christ,  that  moment 
he  believed  and  was  baptized.  The  Bereans,  it  is  said  very 
remarkably  in  the  Acts,  when  an  Apostle  preached,  searched 
the  Scriptures,  whether  these  things  were  so.  And  it  is 
added,  therefore,  on  that  account,  many  of  them  believed. 
"  It  is  written,"  repelled  the  Tempter  in  the  case  of  our  bless- 
ed Lord.  "  Ye  do  err,  not  knowing  the  Scriptures,"  was 
his  frequent  charge.  And  I  have  often  thought  that  the 
most  impressive  credential  of  this  most  precious  book  is  the 
fact  that  Jesus,  its  Author,  its  Subject,  its  Object,  its  all  and 
in  all,  whenever  he  solved  a  difficulty,  replied  to  a  question, 


JOHN    XX.  411 

answered  an  objection,  did  not  do  so  from  the  depths  of  his 
own  wisdom,  but  always  out  of  the  written  book.  Can  you 
conjecture  a  nobler  lionor  put  upon  the  book  than  that  the 
Author  of  the  book  should  constantly  quote  it  as  the  best 
exponent  of  his  own  deep  and  blessed  mind  ? 

We  learn  from  this  passage  that  the  Scriptures  have  all 
been  written  for  practical  purposes.  "  These  things  are 
written,  that  ye  may  believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ."  If 
the  otlier  things  had  been  written,  curiosity  would  have  been 
tickled,  the  fancy  would  have  been  pleased,  salvation  might 
not  have  been  promoted.  But  these  that  are  in  the  book  are 
written  for  this  great  practical  end,  "  that  ye  may  believe 
that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God  ;■  and  believing  have 
life^  through  his  name."  Of  all  books  upon  earth  the  Bible 
is  the  most  practical.  Search  it ;  you  will  find  nothing  in  it 
to  please  an  idle  fancy,  nothing  to  gratify  an  itching  curiosity. 
Oh,  how  many  questions  do  we  ask  as  we  read  it !  When 
Lazarus  came  back  from  the  spirit  land,  and  mingled  with 
the  sisterhood  tliat  wept  over  his  departure,  how  naturally 
do  we  say,  "  I  wonder  he  said  nothing  about  what  he  felt  on 
dying  —  I  wonder  he  said  nothing  about  what  he  saw  in  that 
land  from  which  no  traveller  returns — I  wonder  that  he 
said  nothing  of  the  bright  company,  and  the  holy  and  happy 
family  that  were  there."  All  is  silence.  Why  ?  It  would 
have  pleased  our  fancy,  it  would  not  have  profited  our  souls. 
Take  another  instance.  "  Lord,  are  there  many  that  be 
saved?"  What  an  interesting  question!  We  sometimes 
wonder,  will  tlie  majority  of  the  human  race  be  saved,  or  a 
minority  ?  But  when  the  question  was  asked  of  Jesus,  what 
was  his  answer  ?  "  Strive  to  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate." 
And  again,  "  Lord,  what  shall  this  man  do  ?  "  what  was  his 
answer  ?  "  Wliat  is  that  to  thee  ?  Follow  thou  me." 
What  rich,  practical  —  and  not  the  less  so  that  it  is  inspired 
—  common  sense  is  found  in  this  blessed  book  !     Every  thing 


412  SCRIPTURK    READINGS. 

is  in  it  to  make  man  wiser,  holier,  happier ;  nothing  in  it  to 
gratify  an  idle,  itching,  and  prurient  curiosity. 

The  practical  conclusion  is,  that  "  Jesus  is  the  Christ ; " 
that  is,  the  Messiah  that  saves  his  people  from  their  sins  — 
for  that  is  the  meaning  of  the  word  —  Jesus  the  Anointed 
One,  appointed  of  old,  and  consecrated  of  God  to  be  what  he 
is  called  and  actually  is,  the  Saviour  of  the  people.  Read 
the  sketch  of  the  original  in  Isaiah ;  read  the  fulfilment  of 
that  sketch  in  the  Gospel  of  St.  John ;  and  you  will  see  that 
both  copied  from  an  original ;  the  one  from  an  original  in 
the  future,  the  other  from  the  same  original  in  the  present : 
but  that  both  Isaiah  and  John  preached  and  testified  to  the 
one  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ. 

And  lastly,  "  that  believing  this,  ye  may  have  life  through 
his  name."  What  does  that  imply  ?  That  we  have  not  life. 
Yes,  we  have  animal  life,  the  same  as  the  eagle,  the  ox,  and 
the  fish  of  the  sea.  We  have  intellectual  life,  and  can  write 
beautiful  poems,  able  histories,  and  make  magnificent  and 
conclusive  speeches ;  but  there  is  a  life  beyond  all  this ;  a 
life  that  is  happiness,  and  holiness,  and  joy,  and  peace  ;  and 
that  life  we  have  not  by  nature,  and  must  have  by  grace,  if 
ever  we  are  destined  to  be  happy.  The  solemn  assertion  of 
inspiration  is,  that  "  Ye  are  dead  in  trespasses  and  in  sins." 
The  awful  complaint  of  our  blessed  Lord  was,  "  Ye  will  not 
come  unto  me,  that  ye  might  have  life."  And  that  life  is  to 
be  found  —  where  ?  In  Christ.  And  this  is  the  great  truth 
we  are  all  so  prone  to  forget.  One  thinks  religion  is  a  church 
thing,  another  a  sacerdotal  thing ;  another  thinks  that  it  is  a 
corporate  thing,  another  a  saci-amental  thing.  The  Bible 
constantly  declares  it  is  not  form,  —  it  is  not  subscription  to 
a  ci'eed,  —  it  is  not  the  jironouncing  of  a  Shibboleth,  —  it  is 
not  association  with  a  party ;  it  is  life.  And  just  as  the 
dead  body  that  touched  the  bones  of  the  ancient  prophet  re- 
ceived life,  so  the  soul  brought  into  contact,  not  with  the 


JOHN  XX.  413 

Church,  but  with  the  Lord  of  the  Chui'ch,  instantly  becomes 
instinct  with  life,  and  stands  upon  its  feet  a  living,  a  respon- 
sible, a  hopeful,  and  a  happy  thing. 

This  life  is  said  to  be  also  "  in  his  name,"  —  "  that  ye 
may  have  life  through  his  name."  His  atonement  opened 
up  the  way  to  it ;  his  intercession  keeps  the  way  open.  As 
a  Priest,  he  made  it  possible  that  we  can  have  life  ;  as  a 
King  he  makes  that  life  an  actual  gift.  On  his  cross  he 
purchased  it ;  on  his  tlu-one  he  bestows  it.  "  And  this  is 
life  eternal,  to  know  thee,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  thou  hast 
sent."  What  a  solemn  thought  is  that !  Are  we  Christians  ? 
that  is,  have  we  life  ? 

Christ,  according  to  the  assertion  of  the  Evangelist,  is  the 
object  of  all  Scripture  testimony.  "  These  are  written,  that 
ye  might  believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God ; 
and  that  believing  ye  might  have  life  through  his  name." 
Every  part  of  Scripture,  as  well  as  this  Gospel,  is  full  of 
Christ.  It  is  all  inlaid  Avith  Christ.  He  is  the  key-note  of  all 
its  harmony  ;  he  is  the  woof  and  warp  of  all  its  texture  ;  he 
is  the  beauty  and  glory  of  all  its  composition :  and  he  that 
finds  beautiful  imagery,  fine  poetry,  profound  reasoning  in 
the  Bible,  but  misses  Christ  the  Saviour,  has  never  been 
taught  by  the  Spirit  of  God  to  read  that  Bible  as  he  should. 
The  historic  part  is  full  of  Christ :  every  chapter  reflects  his 
character,  and  every  stage  in  his  history  is  a  step  in  his  de- 
scent to  save.  The  prophetic  part  is  full  of  Christ :  Moses 
proclaimed  him ;  Isaiah  predicted  his  advent ;  David 
sketched  his  royalty  ;  Isaiah  enumerated  his  sufferings  ; 
Micah  states  his  birthplace,  and  the  Apostles  his  glory. 
The  promissory  part  is  full  of  Christ :  all  the  promises  are 
Yea  and  Amen  in  him.  The  ceremonial  part  is  all  ex- 
hausted in  his  advent.  The  doctrinal  part  is  full  of  Christ : 
lie  is  the  root ;  doctrines  are  but  the  leaves,  the  branches,  or 
the  fruit.  The  practical  part  is  full  of  .Christ ;  for  every 
thing   must   be   done   in   his    name,   for    his    glory,  in  his 

35* 


414  SCRIPTURK    HEADINGS. 

strength.  The  whole  Bible,  therefore,  preaches  Christ  : 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  like  the  overshadowing  cher- 
ubim, touch  each  other  Avith  the  tips  of  their  wings  while 
both  look  down  upon  the  glorj  that  burns  between  ;  the 
two  Testaments,  like  the  twin  lips  of  an  oracle,  equally  say, 
"  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  that  taketh  away  the  sins  of 
the  world." 

Thank  God  for  this  blessed  book.  Thank  God  that  this 
one  Gospel  is  sufficient  to  save.  Thank  him  that  he  has 
given  us  so  much  to  make  us  wise  unto  salvation.  Pray 
-that  he  that  inspired  it  would  inspire  your  hearts  to  read  it. 
Go  to  rest  with  a  sense  of  your  responsibility :  if  you  miss 
everlasting  life,  it  is  not  because  God  stands  in  your  way  ; 
it  is  not  because  a  decree  obstructs  you  ;  it  is  not  because 
the  Bible  is  insuflScient ;  it  is  because  some  other  passion 
absorbs  your  thoughts,  some  other  pursuit  occupies  your  at- 
tention. You  are  neglecting  the  great  salvation  ;  or  going 
one  to  his  farm,  another  to  his  merchandise,  another  to  his 
home ;  and  none  accepting  the  invitation  that  is  as  freely 
given  as  it  is  heartily  welcome  to  you  all. 


Note.  —  [23.]  These  woi-ds  reach  forward,  however,  beyond,  and 
extend  the  grant  which  thej  reassure  to  all  ages  of  the  Church.  The 
words  closely  considered,  amount  to  this,  —  that  with  the  gift  and  real 
participation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  comes  the  conviction,  and  therefore 
the  knowledge,  of  sin,  of  righteousness,  of  judgment ;  and  this 
knowledge  becomes  more  perfect,  the  more  men  are  filled  with  the 
Holy  Ghost.  Since  this  is  so,  they  who  are  preeminently  filled  with 
his  presence,  are  preeminently  gifted  with  the  discernment  of  sin,  and 
repentance  of  others,  and  hence  by  the  Lord's  appointment  author- 
ized to  appoint  pardon  of  sin  and  the  contrary.  Tlie  Apostles  had 
this  in  an  especial  manner,  and  by  the  full  iirdwelling  of  the  Spirit 
were  enabled  to  discern  the  hearts  of  men,  and  to  give  sentence  on 
that  discernment.  (See  Acts  v.  1-11;  viii.  21  ;  xiii.  9.)  And  this 
gift  belongs  especially  to  those  who  by  legitimate  appointment  are  set 


JOHN    XX.  415 

to  minister  in  the  Churches  of  Christ  ;  not  by  successive  delegation 
from  the  Apostles, —  of  which  I  find  in  the  New  Testament  no  trace, 
—  but  by  their  mission  from  Christ,  the  bestower  of  the  Spirit,  for 
their  office,  when  orderly  and  legitimately  conferred  upon  them  by 
the  Churches.  Not  however  to  them  exclusively  —  though  for  de- 
cency and  order  it  is  expedient  that  the  outward  and  formal  declara- 
tion should  be  so  —  but  in  proportion  as  any  disciple  shall  have  been 
filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit  of  wisdom  is  the  inner  disccmmcntj  the 
Kpiacg  his  —  Kparelv  here  corresponds  to  Seecv  in  Matt.  —  see  the  dis- 
tinction there  ;  —  u.d>ccvai.  to  Xvecv.  —  Alford. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  ASCENSION.  —  THE  RESURRECTION.  —  WORLDLY  EMPLOYMENT. 
APPEARANCE  OF  JESUS. DISCIPLES  AT  FIRST  FAIL  TO  REC- 
OGNIZE      HIM.  THE     REASON.  IDIOSYNCRACIES.  PRESENCE 

OF     CHRIST.  — -QUESTION     TO    PETER. PETEr's     PRIMACY      AND 

GRIEF. THINGS    SPOKEN    BY    JESUS. 

If  we  did  not  possess  the  rest  of  the  Gospels,  namely, 
those  according  to  Matthew,  and  Mark,  and  Luke,  we  should 
be  without  a  positive  historical  record  of  the  ascension  of 
our  blessed  Lord  to  the  right  hand  of  the  Father,  and  his 
session  there,  a  Prince  and  an  Intercessor  on  our  behalf. 
It  seems  that  John's  Gospel  was  written  under  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  Spirit  of  God,  rather  as  supplemental  to  the  rest, 
than  to  repeat  the  same  historic  facts  that  they  had  already 
embodied.  You  will  notice  in  John's  Gospel  how  much  of 
the  conversation  of  our  Lord  is  given,  and  how  few  of  the 
personal  and  historic  facts  of  his  most  remarkable  biogra- 
phy. Matthew,  and  Mark,  and  Luke  seem  to  dwell  upon 
what  we  may  call  the  outer  life  of  Jesus  ;  John  seems  to* 
dwell  entirely  upon  what  may  be  called  the  inner  life ;  as  if 
he  that  leant  oftenest  on  his  bosom,  had  drunk  the  deepest 
into  his  spirit,  and  seen  clearest  and  been  taught  most  of  the 
thoughts,  the  sympathies,  the  sorrows,  the  joys  and  lofty  com- 
munings of  him  who  spake  as  never  man  spake,  and  lived 
as  never  man  lived. 

But  there  are  some  incidental  touches  in  the  Gospel  of 
St.  John  that  assume  the  fact  of  the  Ascension  without  as- 
serting it ;  and  these  latent  alkisions  are  sometimes  the  most 
striking,  always  the  most  interesting,  and  not  the  least  de- 

(416) 


JOHN  xxr,  417 

monstrative  of  the  truths  to  which  they  refer.  For  instance, 
he  says  in  the  previous  chapter,  "  I  ascend  unto  my  Father, 
and  your  Father  ;  unto  my  God,  and  your  God."  And  in 
a  chapter  before  that,  he  says,  "  What  and  if  ye  shall  see 
the  Son  of  man  ascending  to  where  he  was  before  ?  "  The 
allusion  to  the  ascension  is  continuous.  The  fact  of  his  as- 
cent is  not  stated  in  the  sequel  of  the  Gospel ;  but  these 
latent  or  incidental  allusions  show  that  John  perfectly  under- 
stood it  as  a  fact ;  but  for  reasons  conclusive  and  satisfactory 
to  him,  superintended  as  he  was  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  he  did 
not  record  that  fact. 

Now,  this  chapter  has  been  regarded  as  supplemental  to  a 
Gospel  that  may  be  called  in  itself  supplemental.  Its  object 
is  evidently  to  prove  the  reality  of  Christ's  resurrection,  to 
give  irresistible  proofs  that  he  had  risen,  that  there  might  be 
no  dispute  or  doubt,  or  difference  of  belief  that  Christ  had 
risen  from  the  dead,  and  had  become  the  fii'st-fruits  of  them 
that  slept.  Because  it  was  just  as  important  to  give  satis- 
factory proof  of  Christ's  resurrection,  as  it  was  to  give  con- 
clusive proof  of  Christ's  death.  If  there  was  proof  that  he 
died,  and  therefore  an  atonement  for  our  sins,  but  no  proof 
that  he  rose  from  the  dead,  we  should  not  see  that  the  atone- 
ment was  accepted,  we  should  not  be  satisfied  that  that 
atonement  was  efhcacious  as  it  should  be  ;  and  the  most 
vital  and  precious  truth  in  Chx'istianity  would  be  left  with- 
out the  support  and  evidence  that  so  important  a  truth 
demands. 

Now,  this  chapter  is  full  of  proofs  that  Christ  is  risen 
from  the  dead  ;  and  accordingly  we  read,  "  he  showed  him- 
self again  to  the  disciples  at  the  sea  of  Tiberias  ; "  and  he 
did  it  in  this  way.  The  disciples  were  busy  at  their  trade  ; 
and  this  is  a  very  instructive  lesson.  Tiiey  had  witnessed 
the  atonement,  they  had  also  witnessed  the  resurrection  ;  and 
yet  they  did  not  become  fanatical,  they  did  not  become  monks, 
ascetics,  or  recluses.     But  even  after  the  solemn  scenes  of 


418  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

Calvaiy,  the  grave,  Gethsemane  and  the  garden  of  Arima- 
thea,  they  went  forth  and  attended  to  their  ordinary  duties 
and  business  in  the  world.  '  And  so  should  it  be  with  us. 
Christianity  is  not  to  be  a  substitute  for  our  duties  to  Caesar, 
1)ut  to  be  the  inspiration  and  consecration  of  them  all. 
Christianity  is  made  and  meant  to  help  us  in  this  world  as 
well  as  to  fit  us  for  another  world.  And  the  man  that  makes 
religion  a  pretence  for  neglecting  his  duty  to  his  country,  his 
duty  to  his  sovereign,  or  his  duty  to  his  master,  either  plays 
the  hypocrite  to  us,  or  deceives  himself.  The  Gospel  does 
not  bid  us  lay -aside  the  fisherman's  net  or  the  husbandman's 
plough  ;  but  it  bids  us  fulfil  all  relative  and  all  social  duties 
with  all  our  heart,  as  in  the  sight  of  God,  not  eye-servants, 
but  serving  the  Lord  Christ.  It  is  wonderful  the  common 
sense,  as  I  have  often  said,  that  is  in  this  book  ;  and  it  is  a 
perfect  contrast  to  the  fanaticism  of  some,  the  asceticism  of 
others,  and  the  folly  of  many. 

While  these  men  were  thus  engaged  in  their  lawful  and 
their  daily  avocation,  Jesus  manifested  himself  to  them. 
That  alone  was  the  consecration  of  their  trade.  You  will 
find  that  bright  thoughts,  and  holy  thoughts,  and  blessed 
thoughts  will  leap  from  the  hearts  of  men  that  are  busy 
doing  their  duty ;  while  only  sinful  thoughts  and  wicked 
thoughts  will  stir  in  the  hearts  of  men  that  are  standing 
with  idle  hands,  and  making  religion  a  pretence  for  neglect- 
ing their  duties  to  mankind.  Hence  Jesus  appears  to  these 
fishermen  spreading  their  nets  ;  and  asks  them,  "  Children, 
have  ye  any  meat?  "  And  so  far  from  repressing  their  at- 
tention to  this  world's  duties,  he  encouraged  them,  and  bade 
them  spread  their  net  upon  another  side  of  the  ship. 

They  were  first  perplexed ;  they  did  not  know  it  was  the 
Loi'd.  Now,  it  will  not  do  for  our  Roman  Catholic  friends 
to  say,  this  proves  transubstantiation.  This  is  one  of  their 
texts.  They  say,  "  Here  is  evidence  that  the  eye  saw 
Christ,  and  did  not  know  him."     Therefore,  they  say,  "  the 


JOHN  XXI.  419 

eye  sees  upon  the  altar  a  piece  of  flour  and  water,  a  piece 
of  bread ;  and  yet  it  may  be  Christ's  body,  though  the  eyes 
do  not  see  him."  But  then,  to  quote  such  proof  as  this 
seems  eminently  absurd.  These  fishermen  were  so  absorbed 
in  their  occupation  that  they  did  not  look  very  intently,  they 
did  not  see  very  clearly.  And  you  know  when  the  mind  is 
deeply  absorbed  by  a  subject,  that  the  senses  do  not  properly 
or  instantly  act.  I  have  sat  studying  ;  the  clock  has  struck 
wrong,  and  right,  and  over  again,  and  I  have  never  heard  it. 
I  have  met  in  the  street  people  I  know,  and  I  have  looked 
on  their  countenances ;  but  I  was  thinking  ,of  something 
else,  and  I  failed  to  recognize  them.  Nothing  is  more 
natural,  nothing  more  common.  The  body  is  simply  the 
machinery  ;  and  if  the  mind  is  busy  with  thought  within,  the 
machineiy  does  not  act  as  it  ordinarily  does.  And  these 
fishermen  were  men  toiling  to  support  their  families ;  they 
were  so  busy,  properly  busy,  in  spreading  their  nets,  and 
trying  to  earn  bread  for  their  wives  and  children,  that  when 
the  Lord  came,  they  did  not  recognize  him.  But  when  he 
spoke,  and  said,  "  Children,  have  ye  any  meat  ?  "  and  they 
answered,  "  No ;  "  and  he  added,  "  Cast  the  net  on  the  right 
side  of  the  ship,  and  ye  shall  find.  They  cast  therefore, 
and  now  they  were  not  able  to  draw  it  for  the  multitude 
of  fishes.  Then  that  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved  "  —  that  is, 
John  ;  he  always  speaks  of  himself  in  that  manner  —  "  saith 
unto  Peter,  It  is  the  Lord." 

Then  mark  Peter,  how  his  conduct  contrasts  itself  with 
the  calm  self-possession  of  John  :  the  idiosyncrasy  of  each 
apostle  is  most  beautiful,  and  most  sharply  and  clearly  de- 
lineated. You  cannot  fail  to  detect  it  in  every  incident. 
The  calmness,  the  deep,  the  solemn  stillness  of  John's  loving 
and  affectionate  heart  —  "  It  is  the  Lord."  But  Peter,  rash, 
impetuous,  hasty,  and  hot-tempered  —  not  the  worse  perhaps 
i'or  tliat  —  but  very  hot-tempered,  "girt  his  fisher's  coat 
about  him,  and  cast  himself  into  the  sea."     He  had  no  pa- 


420  SCRIPTUKE    READINGS. 

tience  to  wait.  The  expression  within  a  parenthesis  (  "  for 
he  was  naked  "  )  does  not  mean  what  we  should  imply  by 
these  words.  The  original  in  the  Greek,  and  also  in  the 
Hebrew,  is,  literally  translated,  "  naked  ;  "  but  means  prop- 
erly, "  without  the  upper  coat,"  the  upper  tunic,  the  eastern 
and  ancient  garment  which  was  laid  aside.  And  therefore 
he  girt  on  his  upper  coat,  and  jumped  into  the  sea,  such  was 
his  ecstasy  at  the  very  thought  of  meeting  the  Lord.  You 
see  the  temperaments  of  these  two  men.  And  these  two 
temperaments  are  not  always.subdued  by  grace.  One  man 
is  born  with  a  hasty  temper ;  another  with  a  slow,  and  what 
makes  it  worse  often,  a  sullen  temper.  Another  man,  again, 
is  born  yviih  a  very  self-possessed  temper.  These  are  our 
constitutional  peculiarities,  they  are  given  us  in  providence, 
we  are  not  responsible  for  them,  but  for  seeking  grace  to 
sanctify,  to  sweeten,  to  restrain  and  direct  them.  And  very 
often  we  forget  this.  We  see  one  man  of  a  much  more 
lovely  character  than  another  —  so  amiable,  so  kind,  so 
gentle.  We  see  another  man  hot-tempered,  ready  instantly 
to  flash  into  a  passion  the  moment  that  the  spark  is  applied ; 
and  we  say,  the  former,  is  the  lovely  Christian  character. 
But  the  latter  may  be  much  more  so  ;  the  latter  may  have 
had  a  long  inner  struggle,  and  may  have  had  a  great  deal  to 
do  to  keep  temper  down ;  the  other  has  no  temper  to  keep 
down.  Nature  has  made  the  one ;  grace  is  remaking  the 
other  ;  and  the  latter,  that  looks  to  us  so  unlovely,  may  be 
in  the  sight  of  God  a  far  higher-toned  Christian  character 
than  the  other  that  seems  so  amiable. 

When  Peter  thus  leaped  into  the  sea,  We  read  that ''  the 
other  disciples  came  in  a  little  ship  ;  (for  they  were  not  far 
from  land,  but  as  it  were  two  hundred  cubits)."  Now  that 
seems  a  very  useless  expression  ;  but  what  is  its  value  to 
us  ?  That  this  is  the  record  of  an  actual  eye-witness.  No- 
body but  an  eye-)vitness  of  the  facts  would  have  written  this 
eighth  verse.    "  And  the  other  disciples  came  in  a  little  ship; 


JOHN  XXI.  421 

(fox-  they  were  not  far  from  land,  but  as  it  were  two  hundred 
cubits,)  dragging  the  net  with  fishes."  That  is  a  picture 
from  life,  a  statement  of  an  eye-witness.  You  do  not 
need  striking  external  corroborative  proof ;  you  have  only 
to  read  this  to  know  that  the  writer  was  an  eye-witness 
of  the  fact. 

It  is  added,  "  Jesus  saith  unto  them,  Come  and  dine. 
And  none  of  the  disciples  durst  ask  him,  Who  art  thou  ? 
knowing  that  it  was  the  Lord."  Tliat  is  real.  Can  you 
doubt  that  it  is  real  ?  They  were  so  awed,  so  overwhelmed, 
60  struck  dumb  with  that  magnificent  presence,  that  they 
dare  not  even  ask  him  a  question.  "  This  is  now  the  third 
time  that  Jesus  showed  himself  to  his  disciples,  after  that  he 
Avas  risen  from  the  dead.  So  when  they  had  dined,  Jesus 
saith  to  Simon  Peter,  Simon,  son  of  Jonas,  lovest  thou  me 
more  than  these  ?  "  Not,  I  think,  as  some  have  very  fool- 
ishly supposed  it,  more  than  these  boats,  and  nets,  and  fishes ; 
that  would  not  be  worth  asking ;  but,  Lovest  thou  me  more 
than  John,  and  Matthew,  and  the  rest  of  the  apostles  love 
me  ?  As  if  to  s^y,  "  Peter,  thou  hast  denied  me  more  than 
these.  Now,  Peter,  dost  thou  reinstate  thyself  by  loving  me 
more  than  these  ? "  Peter  then  answered,  "  Yea,  Lord ; 
thou  knowest  that  I  love  thee."  How  humble  is  this  ;  how 
modest !  As  Peter  grows  in  years,  he  grows  in  grace. 
Peter  a  short  time  before  would  have  said,  "  Love  thee 
more  than  these !  Thou  knowest  tliat  I  love  thee  more 
than  John,  and  more  than  Matthew  ;  and  that  I  am  ready 
to  lay  down  my  life  for  thee."  But  he  had  learned  by  experi- 
ence not  to  trust  in  himself;  and  therefore  he  leaves  out  the 
comparison,  "  more  than  these  ;  "  and  says,  "  Thou  knowest 
that  I  love  thee  ;  but  morel  dare  not  say,  my  Lord."  "  He 
saith  unto  him.  Feed  my  lambs."  Then  Jesus  repeats  the 
question  again,  "  Simon,  son  of  Jonas,  lovest  thou  me  ?  "  And 
Peter  again  answers,  "  Yea,  Lord,  thou  knowest  that  I  love 
thee  ; "  yet  no  comparison.     And  then  Jesus  saith,  "  Feed 

36 


422  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

my  sheep."  He  then  says  the  third  time,  "  Lovest  thou 
me  ?  "  Now  there  is  a  very  singular  change  here.  The  first 
two  verbs  are  in  the  Greek  (pu^lv,  to  love;  but  the  third 
question,  very  singular,  has  uya-elv,  another  word,  to  love.  In 
the  first  two  he  asks,  "  Lovest  thou  me  more  than  these  ?  " 
Peter's  constant  reply  is  not  in  the  same  verb,  but  in  an- 
other verb,  "  Thou  knowest  that  I  love  thee." 

Then  Jesus  leaves,  in  the  third  question,  the  verb  that  he 
had  been  using,  and  adopts  the  verb  that  Peter  had  used, 
and  says,  "  Peter,  lovest  thou  me  more  than  these  ?  "  As 
much  as  to  say,  '•  Well,  I  will  take  your  own  word,  which  is 
more  personal,  and  less  wide  —  more  human  and  less  divine  ; 
and  I  ask  thee  now,  Dost  thou  love  me  more  than  these  ?  " 
It  is  said  that  "  Peter  was  grieved  because  he  said  unto  him 
the  third  time,  Lovest  thou  me  ? "  Why  grieved  ?  The 
grief  was  not  that  Jesus  asked  him  so  often,  but  it  was  that 
third  time.  He  remembered  the  woi'ds,  "  Before  the  cock 
crow,  thou  shalt  deny  me  thrice."  And  when  Peter  heard 
the  third  time  come  in  Christ's  questioning  love,  all  his  past 
misconduct  rushed  into  his  mind.  All  sins  that  are  forgiven 
are  not  always  forgotten  :  nor  are  they  unforgiven  because 
they  are  not  forgotten.  And  therefore,  when  he  said  the 
third  time,  "  Lovest  thou  me  ?  "  all  Peter's  early  recollec- 
tions rushed  in  a  full  flood  into  his  mind,  and  he  was  grieved 
that  he  said  the  third  time,  "  Lovest  thou  me  ?  " 

Let  me  notice  here,  that  it  has  been  remarked  by  those 
who  advocate  what  is  called  the  supremacy  of  Peter,  that 
here  we  have  Peter  constituted  the  Primate  of  Christendom. 
And  they  say,  that  he  asked  him  three  times,  and  three  times 
he  was  answered  ;  and  three  times  he  gave  the  order,  "  Feed, 
or  shepherdize,  my  flock ; "  and  they  say  it  meant  that  Peter 
was  constituted  the  chief  bishop,  or  what  we  call  in  more  fa- 
miliar phraseology  the  pope  of  Christendom.  But  surely 
people  must  be  ill  off  for  arguments  that  make  use  of  such 
an  argument  as  this.     One  can  see  nothing  there  about  pri- 


jonx  XXI.  423 

macy ;  we  see,  on  the  contrary,  an  allusion  to  Peter's  first 
guilt ;  and  because  he  had  sinned  so  greatly,  a  pointed  and 
personal  appeal  to  him  to  redeem  the  time,  and  make  up  by 
future  love  for  his  past  criminal  denial ;  and  Peter  himself 
evidently  thought  so.  But  the  chief  reason  for  their  giving 
the  supremacy  to  Peter  is,  that  our  Lord's  language  is, 
"  Feed  my  flock."  But  the  very  same  apostle,  who  knew 
best  whether  he  was  made  pope,  writes  in  one  of  his  epistles, 
the  First  Epistle  of  Peter,  the  fifth  chapter,  at  the  first  verse, 
"  The  elders  which  are  among  you "  —  the  Presbyters 
which  are  among  you  —  "I  exhort,  who  am  also  "  —  Your 
bishop?  No.  Your  cardinal?  No.  Your  archbishop, 
your  pope  ?  No ;  but,  "  The  presbyters  which  are  among 
you  I  exhort,  who  am  also  a  presbyter" — ^oho  am  also  aj)res- 
byter  —  "  and  a,  witness  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  and  also 
a  partaker  of  the  glory  that  shall  be  revealed:  Feed  th« 
flock  of  God."  The  commission  that  he  got,  he  transmits  ; 
and  if,  "  Feed  the  flock  of  God,"  constituted  Peter  the  pi'i- 
mate  of  Christendom,  then  his  command  to  other  copresby- 
ters,  "  Feed  the  flock  of  God,"  constituted  them  the  primates 
of  Chi'istendom.  But  this  proves  so  much  that  it  proves 
nothing  to  the  purpose  at  all.  Besides,  if  these  three  re- 
marks, "  Feed  my  flock,"  or,  "  Feed  my  sheep,"  had  consti- 
tuted Peter  the  primate  of  the  episcopal  college,  how  can 
you  explain  the  extraordinary  fact  that  Peter  Avas  grieved 
at  it  ?  Why,  he  would  have  oeen  delighted.  The  tendency 
of  human  nature  would  have  been  to  be  puffed  up.  But  we 
read  that  Peter  was  grieved  at  it.  Does  that  look  as  if  he 
was  exalted  above  the  rest?  You  do  not  find  a  man  in  the 
present  day  very  much  grieved  when  he  is  made  a  bishop, 
nor  a  bishop  very  much  grieved  when  he  is  made  an  arch- 
bishop ;  nor  a  cardinal  very  much  grieved  when  he  is  made 
a  pope.  You  do  not  find  it  so  in  modern  days.  Then  they 
have  lost  the  succession  ;  for  we  read  here  that  Peter  was 
grieved  when,  according  to  them,  he  was  created  the  pri- 


424  scRirxuRE  rexVdixgs. 

mate  of  the  Church.  But  the  fact  is,  Peter  was  created  no 
such  thing.  He  was  grieved  at  his  sins.  And  we  are  only 
amazed  that  people  should  so  distort  and  pervert  this  beau- 
tiful passage  as  to  construct  an  ecclesiastical  despotism  out 
of  a  simple  commission  to  win  souls  to  Christ,  and  feed  them 
that  are  the  flock  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

The  chapter  closes  with  a  very  interesting  statement, 
which  has  been  open  to  mistake.  "  The  world  could  not  con- 
tain the  books  that  should  be  written."  This  is  plainly  a 
proverbial  expression.  I  do  not  think  we  are  to  construe  it 
literally,  as  if  the  world  could  not  contain  them.  And  yet  if 
all  that  one  says,  —  if  all  that  one  man  who  has  a  very  busy 
life  has  spoken,  and,  if  he  be  a  minister,  preached,  were  to 
be  printed,  you  have  no  idea  of  what  volumes  it  would  fill. 
If  all  we  have  said  at  our  firesides,  if  all  we  have  said  in  the 
House  of  Commons  or  in  the  House  of  Lords,  if  all  that 
we  have  said  in  the  shop,  in  the  exchange,  in  the  counting- 
house,  or  wherever  we  have  been,  were  to  be  actually  re- 
ported and  copied  verbatim,  you  have  no  idea  of  the  volumes 
it  would  fill.  And  therefore  the  expression,  "  The  whole 
world  could  not  contain  the  books  that  should  be  written," 
means  simply  it  would  occupy  a  vast  space.  I  distinguish, 
If  all  that  we  had  spoken  during  a  life  of  thirty-three  years 
were  to  be  embodied,  it  would  be  in  volumes  tolerably  port- 
able. But  recollect,  they  had  no  printing  in  those  days. 
The  whole  Bible  in  manus#ipt  would  then  occupy  a  very- 
large  cart  to  convey  it  from  one  place  to  another.  Recol- 
lect that  the  whole  of  this  book  only  as  a  manuscript  would 
occupy  a  large  space.  And  if  all  that  one  has  spoken  in  a 
lifetime  were  to  be  written  on  vellum  or  parchment,  and  on 
one  side  only,  I  would  venture  to  say  that  the  manuscript 
would  extend  from  John  o'  Groats  to  the  Land's  End,  at 
least  would  cover  a  great  many  acres  of  land  if  it  were  to  be 
spread  out.  But  I  do  not  attach  this  severe  meaning  to  it. 
I  regard  the  expression  as  purely  proverbial ;  the  use  of  a 


JOHN  XXI.  425 

picture  that  was  familiar  to  mankind,  to  illustrate  tlie  simple 
truth  that  if  all  that  Christ  said  were  written,  it  would  be 
inconvenient.  But  we  rejoice  to  know,  what  is  stated  in  the 
previous  chapter,  "  These  are  written,  that  ye  may  believe 
that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God  ;  and  that  believ- 
ing ye  may  have  life  through  his  name." 

36* 


CHAPTER  XXL  21-23. 

PETETl's     QUERY.  —  OUR    TRANSLATION.  —  OUR     CURIOSITY    ABOUT 

OTHERS. PRACTICAL   ANSWERS.  LIFE    A   JOURNEY. CIIEIST'a 

SECOND   ADVENT.  —  DUTY   BEFORE    CURIOUS   QUESTIONS. 

A  VERT  instructive  and  interesting  scene  occurs  at  the 
close  of  this  chapter  ;  so  suggestive,  that  we  venture  to  add 
an  exposition  of  its  lessons. 

"  Peter  seeing  him  saith  tp  Jesus,  Lord,  and  what  shall 
this  man  do  ?  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  If  I  will  that  he  tarry 
till  I  come,  what  is  that  to  thee  ?  follow  thou  me.  Then 
went  this  saying  abroad  among  the  brethren,  that  that  ^dis- 
ciple  should  not  die :  yet  Jesus  said  not  unto  him.  He  shall 
not  die  ;  but,  If  I  will  that  he  tarry  till  I  come,  what  is  that 
to  thee  ?  " 
^  In  the  course  of  the  chapter,  Peter  receives  from  his 
f^  Lord  the  prophecy  of  his  own  approaching  crucifixion.  He 
was  told  that  when  he  was  young  he  girded  himself;  but 
that  when  he  should  be  old,  another  should  gird  him,  and 
should  carry  him  whither  he  would  not ;  in  other  words,  that 
thus  he  should  die.  It  is  written  accordingly  in  the  pages 
of  the  most  credible  ancient  historians,  —  among  the  rest, 
,  in  the  second  book  of  Eusebius,  —  that  Peter  was  crucified 
with  his  head  downwards ;  and  that  the  prophecy  of  our 
Lord  was  thus  literally  and  truly  fulfilled.  Peter  seeing 
John,  and  having  just  heard  the  prophecy  respecting  the 
nearness  and  nature  of  his  own  death,  turns  round  with  his 
accustomed  precipitancy,  and  saith  unto  Jesus,  "  Lord,  and 
what  shall  this  man  do  ?  "     There  is  here  an  instance,  I  think, 

(426) 


JOHN  XXI.  427 

of  the  inaccuracy  of  our  almost  always  accurate  transla- 
tors ;  I  will  not  call  it  inaccuracy,  but  misconception  of  the 
thoughts,  because  they  have  sufficiently  marked,  by  the  use 
of  italics,  where  the  translation  varies  from  the  original :  the 
words  shall  and  do  are  not  in  the  original.  On  looking  at 
any  of  the  ordinary  Bibles,  you  will  see  in  the  question, 
"  What  shall  this  man  do  ? "  that  the  word  do  is  in  italics  ; 
and  that  is  proof,  according  to  a  law  observed  by  the  trans- 
lators, that  the  word  is  not  in  the  original. 

Now,  what  Peter  had  heard,  you  perceive,  was  that  he 
himself  should  die  ;  and  the  question  naturally  suggested 
in  his  mind  was  not,  "  What  shall  John  do  ?  "  but,  "  What 
shall  be  the  nature,  the  date,  and  the  place  of  the  death  of 
John  ?  "  He  was  told  that  he  himself  should  die  ;  and  see- 
ing John  following,  he  asks,  "  As  I  am,  Lord,  to  die  by  the 
painful  death  of  crucifixion,  here  is  thy  beloved  disciple  now 
following  thee,  tell  me  what  is  to  be  the  nature  and  nearness 
of"  his  death.  Since  I  am  to  be  girded  in  a  way  that  I 
would  not,  and  thou  hast  told  me  what  shall  be  the  issue  of 
my  course  upon  earth,  what  have  you  got  to  say  about  this 
man,  about  his  death  ?  Let  me  know  something  to  gratify 
a  curiosity  I  cannot  repress  :  what  is  to  be  the  end,  what  is 
to  be  the  nature  of  the  death  of  this  disciple  whom  thou  lov- 
est  ?  "  This  question  was  a  very  natural  one,  but  it  was  a 
question  of  that  sort  that  an  answer  to  it  could  not  contribute 
in  the  least  degree  to  the  edification  of  Peter  or  to  the  com- 
fort of  John.  Peter  rashly,  according  to  his  usual  habit, 
assumed  that  because  Jesus  had  specially  predicted  the  death 
of  one,  he  must  be  ready  to  predict  the  death  of  all.  And\ 
not  only  so,  but  with  that  curiosity  which  obtruded  itself  on  \ 
every  occasion,  he  forgot  for  a  moment  his  own  solemn  f 
concerns  and  duties,  which  ought  then  to  have  absorbed 
his  mind,  and  turning  round  and  seeing  John,  he  inquisi- 
tively asks,  "  Tell  me  something  about  him ! "  like  many 
people  still,  who  are   more   anxious  to   learn   about  their 


428  SCRIPTURE    HEADINGS. 

neighbors,  than  they  are  to  act  solemnly  about  themselves  ; 
who  would  rather  inquire,  "What  is  the  character  of  my 
friend,  my  acquaintance  ?  than  What  is  my  own  ?  and  who 
are  in  most  cases  painful  proofs  of  the  fact  that  the  portion 
of  life  least  known  to  a  man  is  often  that  little  part  he  has 
lived  in' the  few  years  that  have  already  passed  away. 

Now,  suppose  our  Lord  had  told  Peter,  in  answer  to  his 
question,  when  John  should  die ;  or  suppose  what  was  a  spe- 
cial prediction  in  the  case  of  a  single  individual,  on  grounds 
which  we  cannot  now  discover,  he  should  have  stated  to  all  and 
every  one,  and  specified  long  before,  the  time,  the  place,  and 
the  nature  of  each  individual  death ;  suppose  that  we  had 
only  to  open  the  Bible,  in  order  to  ascertain  when,  and 
where,  and  how  we  shall  each  die.  We  often  wish  as  much. 
It  is  a  question  that  we  all  sometimes  entertain,  "  Am  I  to 
die  young,  in  manhood,  or  in  old  age  ?  Am  I  to  die  amid 
the  sympathies  of  friends,  amid  the  assiduities  of  the  near 
and  the  dear ;  or  on  the  quarter-deck,  or  on  the  field  of 
battle  ?  Or  is  the  ocean  to  be  my  shroud,  and  its  cease- 
less sound  my  last  requiem  ? "  These  and  similar  ques- 
tions we  have  too  often  asked  :  it  is  perhaps  natural  enough 
to  ask  them  ;  but  would  the  answer  do  us  any  good  ?  None. 
We  know  the  fact,  that  we  must  die,  and  at  latest  soon :  this 
alone  should  stimulate  us  to  seek  instantly  peace  with  God 
through  Jesus  Christ.  But  the  how,  the  when,  the  where 
is  wrapped  in  an  obscurity  that  God  has  wisely  and  merci- 
fully not  unveiled,  and  that  it  does  not  seem  good  for  us, 
even  if  possible,  to  penetrate.  The  answer  given  to  Peter 
is  the  most  proper  he  could  have  had.  Jesus  does  not 
satisfy  the  curious  inquiry  of  Peter  :  Jesus  never  refused  an 
answer  that  would  be  useful,  but  he  always  refused  an  an- 
swer that  would  merely  satisfy  curiosity. 

The  book,  the  Bible,  partakes  of  the  spirit  of  the  blessed 
Master.  Of  all  books  upon  earth  the  Bible  least  satis- 
fies an  idle  curiosity  ;  but  of  all  books  that  were  ever  writ- 


JOHN  XXI.  429 

ten,  it  most  satisfies  the  deepest  yearnings  of  the  human 
heart.  But  if  I  had  been  writing  a  book,  and  wished  that 
book  to  be  popular,  what  course  should  I  have  taken  ?  Just 
those  points  that  the  Bible  has  left  untouched  I  would  have 
touched ;  just  those  gaps  that  the  Bible  has  left  unfilled,  I 
would  have  filled.  I  would  have  told  you  what  Lazarus  felt 
as  the  soul  leaped  from  the  body,  like  the  sword  from  its 
scabbard ;  I  would  have  told  you  what  Lazarus  felt  when 
he  mingled  with  the  choirs,  and  with  the  cherubim,  and 
with  the  company  of  the  blessed.  I  would  have  told  you 
how  he  felt  when  separate  from  the  body ;  what  he  saw  in 
the  third  heaven  ;  how  he  felt  as  he  came  back ;  and  how 
he  felt,  and  what  his  sensations  were,  when  he  took  posses- 
sion of  the  cold  and  deserted  shrine  that  laid  several  days  in 
the  grave.  Your  curiosity  would  have  been  kindled :  every- 
body would  i-ead  such  a  book  ;  everybody  would  have  been 
interested  with  such  inquiries.  But  the  Bible  upon  these  sub- 
jects is  dumb  ;  nay  more,  it  condemns  the  very  discussion 
and  entertainment  of  them.  The  Bible  is  a  book  for  the 
enlightenment  of  the  mind,  for  the  sanctification  of  the  soul, 
for  the  comfort  of  the  heart,  for  the  salvation  of  sinners  ; 
but  nowhere  and  never  does  it  minister  to  an  idle,  a  paltry, 
and  a  worthless  curiosity. 

Is  not  this  an  indirect  proof  of  its  origin  ?  Touching, 
mind  you,  the  margin  of  the  unseen,  dealing  with  the  shores 
of  that  unsounded  ocean  that  is  between  us  and  eternity,  nat- 
urally it  might  have  been  expected  to  say  much  that  was 
intensely  curious ;  but  singularly  enough,  it  is  silent,  alto- 
gether silent ;  and  silent  where  we  wish  sometimes  it  would 
have  spoken ;  but  never  silent  without  conclusive  reasons 
for  being  so.  Do  you  recollect  that  question,  "  Lord,  are 
there  many  that  be  saved  ?  "  That  is  a  very  curious  ques- 
tion, —  a  question  we  sometimes  entertain  ;  but  what  was 
the  Bible's  answer,  or  rather  the  Lord's  answer  ?  "  Strive 
to  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate."     Now,  no  human  teacher 


430  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

would  have  ever  said  that ;  he  would  have  entered  into 
a  discussion  at  once.  But  the  extraordinary  practical, 
personal  appeals  of  the  Bible  to  man's  conscience,  and  to 
man's  heart,  and  its  utter  and  universal  refusal  to  grat- 
ify man's  itching  curiosity,  is  to  my  mind  one  of  its  most 
magnificent  credentials  as  the  word  and  the  inspiration  of 
God. 

Our  Lord  therefore  says  to  Peter,  "What  is  that  to 
thee  ?  "  This  does  not  mean  that  Peter  was  not  to  sympa- 
thize with  John  ;  it  does  not  mean  that  he  was  not  to  be  his 
brother's  keeper;  it  does  not  mean  he  was  to  become  sel- 
fish ;  but  only  that  he  was  not  to  become  curious.  It  is  one 
thing  to  help  another,  to  sympathize  with  a  brother,  and  in 
every  respect  to  comfort  a  mourner  ;  it  is  quite  another  thing 
to  pry  into  the  future  biography  of  another,  and  try  to  fish 
up  from  the  depths  of  that  silent  sea  facts  and  phenomena 
which  were  never  meant  for  man  to  know. 

Notice,  in  the  next  place,  in  our  Lord's  reply,  his  sover- 
eignty. "  If  I  will  that  he  tarry  till  I  come,  what  is  that  to 
thee  ?  "  This  answer  lifts  the  veil,  and  lets  forth,  inciden- 
tally provoked  by  the  question  of  Peter,  the  beautiful  and 
blessed  truth  that  our  life  is  not  dependent  upon  chance, 
upon  incide-nt,  or  upon  accident,  but  upon  the  will  and  sover- 
eignty of  Christ  the  Lord.  He  says,  "  If  I  will  that  he 
tarry  till  I  come."  His  will  is  the  law  and  limit  of  my  life. 
That  will  is  transmitted  through  the  whole  series  of  second 
causes,  as  the  lightning  is  transmitted  through  a  chain,  dis- 
turbing nothing,  yet  conveying  its  behests,  —  its  force  and 
its  effects,  to  all.  That  will  of  Christ's  is  operative  every- 
where. "  If  I  will  that  he  be  spared,"  is  applicable  to  man  in 
every  scene  of  peril,  in  every  sphere  of  contagion,  —  at  home, 
on  the  land,  on  the  ocean,  everywhere  and  always.  The 
heart  cannot  miss  a  beat,  the  pulse  cannot  falter  in  its  pul- 
sations ;  much  less  can  either  stand  still  without  an  order 
coming  from  the  throne  —  "I  will :  Let  the  soul  be  severed 


JOHN  XXI.  431 

from  the  body."  Each  of  us  —  noble  thouglit !  —  is  immor- 
tal till  God  has  nothing  more  for  us  to  do  ;  and  when  our 
mission  is  done,  and  our  work  is  finished,  then  his  will,  — 
not  chance,  not  accident,  not  the  fagot,  not  the  sword,  not 
the  scimitar,  not  disease,  not  pestilence,  not  famine,  but  the 
will  of  Christ,  —  ends  our  days  ;  takes  the  pilgrim  from  the 
tent  to  the  house  not  made  with  hands,  the  wanderer  from 
the  desert  to  a  home  beyond  the  stars.  What  a  beautiful 
thought  is  that,  "  If  I  will ! "  it  is  the  law  and  the  limit  of 
the  length  of  our  days. 

But  notice,  in  this  beautiful  reply,  another  word  that  is 
suggestive.  "  If  I  will  that  he  iarrij  till  I  come,  what  is  that 
to  thee  ?  "  The  word  tarry  indicates  that  life  is  a  journey. 
To  tarry  on  a  journey  is  what  we  deprecate ;  and  here  he 
says,  he  that  lives  longest  in  this  world  tarries  the  longest ; 
he  that  is  taken  early  home  is  most  beloved.  He  that  lives 
longest  is  not  necessarily  the  most  beloved :  he  that  lives 
long  is  suffered  to  tarry,  —  he  is  not  taken  to  his  home  as 
speedily  as  he  would ;  but  the  flower  that  is  cut  down  as 
soon  as  it  blossoms,  is  specially  beloved,  —  it  is  transplanted 
from  a  wintry  and  an  ungenial  clime  to  its  own  native  and 
balmy  air,  -^  to  blossom  no  longer  in  the  refracted  and 
clouded  sunshine,  but  in  the  full  brightness  of  the  sunshine 
of  that  Sun  whose  day  has  no  cloud  to  dim  it,  and  no  night 
to  close  it.  It  is  thus  that  tarry  indicates  a  journey,  and 
indicates  too  that  he  that  has  walked  longest  in  it  is  least 
favored. 

And  then,  says  the  Lord,  "  What  if  he  tarry  till  I  come  ?  " 
Then  Christ's  Second  Advent  is  a  future  fact.  It  is  here 
intimated  ;  it  is  constantly  predicted  throughout  Scripture. 
"  Till  I  come  again."  He  came  first  like  the  light  dawning 
softly  and  gently  on  the  world  ;  but  he  will  come  the  second 
time  not  like  the  light,  but  like  the  lightning  bursting  in  un- 
expected splendor,  and  shining  from  the  east  even  unto  the 
distant  west.     And  when  he   comes   again,  some  will  be 


432  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

found  waiting  till  lie  come.  He  says,  "  If  I  will  that  he 
tarry  till  I  come,  what  is  that  to  thee  ?  "  You  ask  —  and  it 
is  not  a  curious  question,  because  it  is  a  question  answered 
—  Will  any  be  found  living  when  Christ  comes  again  ? 
The  apostle  tells  us  plainly  that  "  If  we  believe  that  Jesus 
died  and  rose  again,  even  so  them  also  which  sleep  in  Jesus 
will  God  bring  with  him.  For  this  we  say  unto  you  by  the 
word  of  the  Lord,  that  we  which  are  alive  and  remain  unto 
the  coming  of  the  Lord  shall  not  prevent  —  that  is,  go  be- 
fore—  them  which  are  asleep."  Then  some  will  be  alive  ; 
some  of  your  children,  either  yourselves,  or  your  children, 
or  your  children's  childi'en,  will  never  die.  What  a  thought 
it  is  !  some  will  be  alive  when  tlie  Lord  comes.  And  what 
a  blessed  transformation  will  theirs  be !  In  a  moment, 
in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  gray  hair,  and  wrinkles,  and 
dimness  of  sight,  and  dcadness  of  hearing,  will  burst  into 
immortal  and  joyous  youth  ;  and  the  transition  from  this 
mortal  to  that  immortal  will  be  instant,  glorious,  and  blessed. 
Some,  then,  will  remain  till  the  Lord  come,  and  be  changed 
in  a  moment  to  his  own  glorious  image ;  we  shall  be  like 
him,  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is. 

But  notice,  from  this,  another  lesson.  "  What  is  that  to 
thee  ?  follow  thoit  me."  Religion  is,  then,  a  personal  thing. 
"  What  is  that  to  thee  ?  follow  thou  me."  "  What  must  /do 
to  be  saved  ?  "  The  great  and  the  first  question  that  every 
man  in  this  assembly  ought  to  settle  is  his  own  personal 
safety  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  in  the  prospect  of  a  judg- 
ment morn.  And  after  that  he  may  entertain  many  an  in- 
teresting question,  not  laid  aside  and  renounced  for  ever,  but 
only  postponed  to  a  proper  and  convenient  season.  But  in 
the  mean  time  to  stand  on  a  ship  that  is  blazing  in  the  flames, 
and  to  count  how  many  succeed  in  escaping ;  or  to  stand 
upon  a  ship  sinking  inch  by  inch  into  the  deep,  and  to  count 
the  numbers  that  are  getting  into  the  boat  or  upon  the  raft, 
but  careless  about  iiimself,  is  only  a  dim  and  imperfect  type 


JOHN'  XXI.  433 

of  tlie  conduct  of'  that  man  who  entertains  a  thousand  curi- 
ous —  it  may  be  interesting,  it  may  be  in  their  place  impor- 
tant—  questions,  but  never  prayerfully  and  in  the  depths  of 
his  heart  has  asked,  and  sought  an  answer  to  the  most  mo- 
mentous of  all,  "  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  " 

Notice,  in  the  next  place,  from  this  answer,  ''  Follow  thou 
me,"  that  all  duties  are  in  the  present.  "  Follow  thou  me." 
"  Instead  of  conjecturing  about  John,  instead  of  thinking 
curiously  about  the  incidents  of  another  man's  life,  you, 
Peter,  engage  in  instant  duty."  And  this  is  suggestive  too  of 
another  fact.  What  made  Peter  speculate  ?  Looking  off 
from  Christ.  When  was  it  that  he  asked  the  question, 
"  What  shall  this  man  do  ?  "  It  is  said  that  after  Jesus  said 
to  Peter,  "  Follow  me  ;  then  Peter,  tui-ning  about,  seeth  the 
disciple  whom  Jesus  loved  following."  What  business  had 
he  turning  about  ?  The  command  was,  "  Follow  me  :  "  and 
if  he  had  followed  Christ,  he  would  have  been  so  im- 
pressed by  the  glory  of  that  Glorious  One,  that  all  other 
questions  would  have  been  absorbed  in  thouglits  of  his 
brightness.  But  Peter  faltered  for  a  moment ;  instead  of 
looking  at  Christ,  he  turned  round  and  looked  behind  hira. 
And  then  he  began  to  speculate  about  the  future  biogra- 
phy of  John.  Our  Lord  therefoi-e  says,  "  Cease  your 
speculating  ;  turn  aside  from  curious  inquiries  ;  do  not 
look  behind  you  like  Lot's  wife ;  but  look  to  me  ;  ibllow 
me ;  let  me  efface  such  curious  questions  from  your  heart ; 
and  then  your  questions  will  be  anxious,  interesting,  solemn, 
important ;  not  merely  speculative  and  curious." 

Thus  Peter  was  rebuked  gently  for  his  speculative  inqui- 
ries ;  reminded  of  the  peril  of  turning  to  the  right  hand  or 
to  the  left ;  when  Jesus  told  him  that  if  it  was  his  will  that 
John  should  tarry  till  the  second  advent,  that  was  no  con- 
cern of  his.  But  it  is  added  very  strikingly,  evidently  to 
teach  us  a  very  important  lesson,  "  Then  went  this  saying 
abroad  among  the  brethren,  that  that  disciple  should  not 

37 


434  SCRTPTUUE    READINGS. 

die."  This  is  the  first  and  earliest  tradition  that  we  liave  ; 
and  it  is,  like  almost  all  the  traditions  that  have  floated  like 
driftwood  down  the  ages,  perverted,  corrupted,  and  carica- 
tured. The  simple  statement  of  Jesus  was,  "  If  I  will ;  " 
that  is,  hypotheticallj.  The  distorted  perversion  of  tradition 
was,  "  that  that  disciple  should  not  die."  We  thus  find 
Christ's  words  as  heard  were  distorted  and  perverted  by 
tradition ;  and  we  know  it  as  a  fact,  that  Christ's  words  as 
written  may  be  distorted  in  meaning  by  tradition  still  ;  not 
because  his  words  are  obscure,  but  because  our  hearts  are 
perverse  ;  not  because  his  word  is  dark,  but  because  our 
minds  need  light.  Tradition,  we  learn  from  this,  is  a  pre- 
carious depository,  a  defective  witness.  The  first  instance 
of  its  occurrence  is  proof  that  it  is  not  to  be  trusted.  But 
very  strikingly,  and  highly  instructively  to  us,  God's  Word 
steps  in,  corrects  the  distorted  tradition  of  man,,  and  shows 
what  was  true,  "Yet  Jesus  said  not  unto  him,  He  shall 
not  die ;  but,  If  I  will  that  he  tarry  till  I  come,  what  is  that 
to  thee  ?  " 

Now,  what  do  you  see  here  ?  The  Church  of  Rome  says 
tradition  is  to  explain  the  Bible  ;  but  the  Word  of  God 
says  that  the  Bible  is  to  explain  tradition.  We  here  find 
tradition  went  wrong  ;  and  that  God's  Word  was  its  instant 
corrective.  And  instead,  therefore,  of  turning  to  tradition 
to  explain  the  Bible,  or  to  teach  us  its  meaning,  we  rather 
read  the  Bible  to  keep  right  tradition,  and  to  instruct  it  in 
its  duty.  We  do  not  object  to  tradition,  Protestants  do  not 
object  to  tradition,  —  all  we  ask  is  this,  if  you  have  a  state- 
ment not  contained  in  the  Bible,  couched  in  words  that  you 
believe  to  be  divine,  that  you  will  demonstrate  it  to  me  by  as 
strong  proof  as  that  by  which  I  can  prove  the  Bible  to  be 
from  God,  and  show  that  your  tradition  was  heard  by  an 
apostle,  and  recorded  by  him  that  heard  it,  then  I  wiU  ac- 
cept your  tradition  as  reverently  as  I  accept  the  Bible. 
But  if  you  merely  assert  that  this  is  tradition,  because  A 


JOiix  xxr,  435 

heard  it  from  B,  and  B  heard  it  from  C,  and  C  heard  it  he 
knew  not  whei'e  ;  then,  instead  of  taking  your  dim,  misty, 
precarious  tradition,  to  exphiin  the  phiin,  the  clear,  the 
obvious  Bible,  I  must  reverse  the  process,  and  take  the 
plain  and  intelligible  Bible,  either  to  test,  or  to  explain,  or 
to  refute  your  misty  and  precarious  tradition.  At  all 
events,  never  forget  that  the  first  instance  on  record  of  tra- 
dition is  proof  of  its  corrupt  and  corrupting  tendency ;  and 
that  one  of  the  earliest  applications  of  the  Bible  upon  record 
is  an  application  of  it  to  correct  man's  tradition  by  God's 
own  holy  Word. 

Let  us  notice  now  what  the  whole  of  Christianity  is.  It 
consists  in  this,  "  Follow  thou  me."  Now  to  comply  with 
that  is  to  be  a  Christian.  And  first,  we  learn  from  this, 
that  Christianity  is  first  of  all  personal  relation  to,  and  com- 
munion with  Christ.  The  prescription  of  Jesus  is  not, 
"  Follow  a  sect,  assume  a  name,  pronounce  a  s/iihholeth,  be- 
long to  a  party  ; "  but,  Follow  Christ.  And  in  the  next 
place,  we  learn  that  Christianity  here  is  altogether  a  prac- 
tical thing.  It  is  not,  "  Approve  of  my  claims,  believe  my 
words,  compliment  me,  praise  me,  eulogize  my  religion;" 
but  it  is,  "  Follow  thou  me."  And  in  the  next  place,  we 
learn  that  this  duty  is  not  a  duty  to  be  postponed  to  the 
future,  but  to  be  fulfilled  in  the  present.  It  is  not,  "  Wait 
till  a  convenient -season  ; "  there  is  no  such  modifying  ele- 
ment introduced  as,  "  Go  first  and  bury  your  dead ;  "  but  it 
is,  "  Rise  now  ;  follow  me  now."  All  duties  are  in  the  pres- 
ent, they  never  lie  or  are  placed  in  the  future. 

But  did  these  words  as  addressed  to  Peter  cease  to  be 
applicable  when  Jesus  ascended  ?  No.  Peter  lived  many 
years  after  the  ascent  of  our  Lord  ;  and  therefore  his  words, 
"  Follow  thou  me,"  cannot  be  restricted  to  Peter,  but  are 
applicable  to  Christian  men,  who,  like  him,  existed  upon 
earth.  They  must  therefore  belong  to  us.  They  were  ap- 
plicable to  Peter  after  the  ascent  of  our  Lord  ;  and  indeed 


436  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

the  epithets  -which  are  most  fre([ueiit  in  Scripture  are,  "  Fol- 
lowers of  Christ,"  "  Followers  of  rue  ;  "  "  These  are  they 
that  follow  the  Lamb  whithersoever  he  goeth."  If  such  be 
the  meaning  of  it,  in  what  respect  are  we  to  follow  Christ  ? 
We  ai'e  to  follow  him  tirst  as  the  teacher  ;  receiving  his  les- 
sons as  conclusive,  his  law  as  final,  his  word  as  that  wliich 
settles  all  disputes,  and  puts  an  end  to  ail  discussions. 
We  are  secondly  to  follow  Christ  as  our  example.  Wliilst 
he  is  an  atonement  we  are  to  trust  in  for  forgiveness,  he  is 
also  the  perfect  and  beautiful  example  that  we  are  to  follow 
for  imitation.  If  you  will  read  that  striking  biography,  tlie 
biography  of  Christ,  you  will  find  that  he  has  left  us  in 
every  sphere  —  left  deep  upon  the  sands  of  time  —  foot- 
prints we  do  well  to  ibllow,  and  following  which,  we  shall 
number  ourselves  among  them  who  follow  him,  and  are  the 
inheritors  of  the  promises.  In  his  appeals  to  Scripture  we 
are  to  follow  him  ;  in  his  joys  we  are  to  follow  him  ;  in  his 
sorrows  we  are  to  follow  him  ;  in  his  triumph  over  the  world 
and  his  dwelling  upon  it  we  are  to  follow  hin>.  The  just 
man  of  Plato,  the  perfect  man  that  humanity  sighed  ibr,  is 
found  in  Christ.  Never  did  such  maxims  fall  from  human 
lips  ;  never  did  such  an  example  rise  and  shine  upon  the 
world  as  his.  It  is  impossible  to  account  for  so  perfect, 
spotless,  holy  an  example,  —  the  spirit  in  which  he  spake, 
the  perfection  with  which  he  lived,  the  meekness  with  which 
he  died,  —  except  by  believing  that  he  was  God  manifest  in 
the-  flesh ;  the  great  Atonement  for  sin,  the  great  Example 
to  mankind. 

And  in  following  Jesus  in  all  these  capacities,  we  are  to 
follow  him  specially  with  the  heart.  In  all  religion,  my  dear 
friends,  the  great  requirement  is  the  heart.  Satan  will  be 
delighted  at  your  discussing  organs,  liturgies,  episcopacy, 
presbytery,  and  all  the  ceremonial  details  which  have  consti- 
tuted the  chief  controversies  of  Christendom,  if  he  can  only 
keep  you  from  giving  up  your  iieart  to  God.     It  is  the  heart 


JOHN  XXI.  437 

in  prayer  that  gives  that  prayer  its  cxcQllence,  whetlier  it 
be  written  upon  the  page  of  a  liturgy,  or  breathed  warm 
and  living  from  tlie  loving  heart.  If  tlie  heart  be  absent, 
the  sweetest  music  lias  no  charms  ;  if  the  heart  bo  not  in 
prayer,  the  most  beautiful  form  has  no  beauty.  In  all  our 
acts  of  worship  God's  first  requirement  is,  "  Give  me  thy 
heart."  In  our  following  our  Lord  we  are  not  like  Lot's 
wife,  who  followed  her  husband  bodily,  but  left  her  heart 
in  Sodom  ;  so  we  are  not  to  follow  Christ  by  the  profes- 
sion of  baptism,  whilst  our  heart  is  beating  in  the  world 
behind  us. 

And  we  are  to  follow  Christ  not  only  with  the  heart,  but 
we  are  to  do  it  openly.  If  we  will  not  confess  him  before 
men,  he  says  he  will  not  confess  us  before  his  Father  who 
is  in  heaven.  We  need  not  be  ostentatious,  and  yet  we 
must  not  conceal  our  Christianity.  A  symptom  of  a  sickly 
conviction,  or  of  a  hypocritical  religion,  is  ostentation,  pride ; 
but  the  evidence  of  living  religion  is  to  be  seen,  nay,  not  to 
be  seen,  it  is  to  be  felt ;  like  the  great  law  of  gra.vitation, 
silent  in  itself,  but  balancing  the  stars  in  their  orbits,  and 
giving  harmony,  consistency,  order,  and  law  to  all.  Men 
are  to  take  notice  of  us  that  we  have  been  with  Jesus,  not 
by  the  loudness  of  our  profession,  but  by  the  depth,  the  fer- 
vor, the  consistency  of  our  Christian  life. 

And  lastly,  we  are  to  follow  Christ  fully.  We  are  not  to 
say,  "  We  will  follow  up  to  that  point ;  but  there  our  inter- 
est leaves  us  : "  or,  "  We  will  follow  up  to  that  point ;  but 
there  the  world's  frown  meets  us."  If  it  be  Christ's  will, 
we  are  to  do  it,  if  all  the  world  should  denounce  us.  What 
is  not  his  will,  we  are  not  to  do,  if  it  be  clearly  contrary  to 
his  will,  though  all  the  world  should  applaud  it.  Our  first 
question,  and  our  chiefest  inquiry  must  be,  "  What  says  the 
Scripture  ?  Is  this  Christ's  will  ?  "  and  that  will  settle  a 
great  many  questions  that  are  extremely  delicate  discussed 
in  themselves,  but  that  at  once  arc  resolved  if  they  are 

37  * 


438  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

looked  at  in  the  light  of  truth,  and  in  contrast  with  Christ's 
holy  example.  In  sunshine  and  in  cloud,  in  prosperity  and 
in  adversity,  in  our  wealth  and  in  our  tribulation,  let  us  fol- 
low him  ;  listening  to  liis  word,  copying  his  example,  resting 
on  his  sacrifice,  and  looking,  through  his  merits,  for  the 
glory  that  is  to  be  revealed.  Speculating  on  no  curious 
questions,  asking  no  gratification  of  our  curiosity  ;  but  de- 
sirous only  to  know  what  is  duty,  that  we  may  fulfil  it ;  what 
is  Christ's  will,  that  we  may  obey  it ;  and  what  is  his  perfect 
example,  that  with  all  our  heart,  and  strength,  and  soul,  we 
may  follow  him. 

His  followers  in  life,  we  die  in  him,  the  heirs  of  his  eter- 
nal glory.  To  live  has  been  Christ,  and  to  die  is  great 
gain.  "  Blessed  are  the  dead  that  die  in  the  Lord." 
AVhether  we  die  old  or  young,  —  at  home  or  in  exile,  — 
on  the  field  of  battle  amid  the  shouts  of  foes,  or  in  bed  amid 
the  kind  sympathies  of  friends,  has  no  effect  on  our  ever- 
lasting destiny.  To  die  in  Christ  is  peace  anywhere  and 
always. 


Note. —  [25.]  The  purpose  of  this  verse  seems  to  be  to  assert  and 
vindicate  the  fragmentary  character  of  the  Gospel ;  for  that  the  doings 
of  the  Lord  were  so  many  —  his  life  so  rich  in  matter  of  record  — 
that,  in  a  popular  hyperbole,  we  can  hardly  imagine  the  world  con- 
taining them  all,  if  singly  written  down  ;  thus  setting  forth  the  super- 
fluity and  cmnbrousness  of  any  thing  like  a  perfect  detail  in  the 
strongest  terms,  —  and  in  terms  which  certainly  look  as  if  fault  had 
been  found  with  this  Gospel  for  want  of  completeness  by  some  ob- 
jectors. This  cliapter  was  written  by  John  himself.  Of  this  I  am 
fully  convinced.  In  every  part  of  it  his  hand  is  plain  and  unmistak- 
able. I  believe  it  to  have  been  added  some  years  proi)abIy  after  the 
completion  of  the  Gospel,  partly  perhaps  to  record  the  important  mir- 
acle of  the  second  draught  of  fishes,  so  full  of  spiritual  instruction, 
and  the  interesting  account  of  the  sayings  of  the  Lord  to  Peter;  but 
principally  to  meet  the  error  which  was  becoming  prevalent  concern- 
ing himself.     In  order  to  do  this,  he  gives  a  complete  account  with  all 


JOHN  XXI.  439 

minute  details  —  even  to  tlic  number  of  the  fish  caught  —  of  the  cir- 
cumstances preceding  the  conversation,  and  the  very  words  of  the 
Lord  himself;  not  pretending  to  put  a  meaning  on  those  words,  but 
merely  asserting  that  they  announced  no  such  tiling  as  that  he  should 
not  die.  Surely  nothing  can  be  more  natural  than  this.  External 
evidence  completely  tallies  with  this  view.  The  chapter  is  contained 
in  all  the  pi-incipal  MSS.,  and  there  is  no  greater  variety  of  reading. 
In  these  respects  it  ditTers  remarkably  from  John  vii.  53,  viii.  II, 
and  indeed  from  even  Mark  xvi.  9-20.  Internal  evidence  of  style 
and  diction  is  nearly  balanced.  It  certainly  contains  several  words 
and  constructions  not  met  with  elsewhere  in  John  ;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  whole  cast  of  it  is  his,  —  the  train  of  thought  and  manner 
of  narration.  And  all  allowance  should  be  made  for  the  double 
alteration  of  style  of  writing  which  would  be  likely  to  be  brought 
about  by  lapse  of  time  and  by  the  very  nature  of  the  appendix,  — 
a  fragment,  not  forming  part  of  a  whole  written  continuously,  but 
standing  by  itself.  The  last  two  verses,  from  their  contents,  we 
might  expect  to  have  more  of  the  epistolary  form  ;  and  accordingly 
we  find  them  singularly  in  style  resembling  the  Epistles  of  John.  — 
Alford. 


UNDESIGNED  AND   SUGGESTIVE  COINCIDENCES  IN 
THE  FOUR   GOSPELS. 


I  DO  not  here  design  to  adduce  proofs  that  Christianity 
is  true,  or  that  the  Bible  is  inspired ;  but  having  read  with 
great  interest  and  information  an  admirable  work,  pretty 
well  known,  because  published  some  years,  called  Blunt's 
Scriptural  Coincidences,  a  Professor  in  the  University  of 
Cambridge,  I  have  tried  to  make  use  of  some  interesting 
incidental  coincidences  which  that  acute  and  ingenious  schol- 
ar has  detected  in  the  Bible,  beginning,  as  he  does,  at  Gen- 
esis, and  closing  with  Revelation,  in  illustrating  first  the  au- 
thenticity of  the  Gospel ;  secondly,  that  the  writers  of  the 
Gosjjel  wrote  independently  of  each  other ;  and  lastly,  that 
such  coincidences,  latent  to  the  superficial  reader,  occurring 
in  scattered  gi'oups  throughout  the  sacred  page,  prove  that 
the  evangelists  were  the  living  witnesses  of  the  facts  and 
circumstances  which  they  so  beautifully  describe.  Aided  by 
the  suggestions  of  the  learned  Professor,  I  will  select  some 
of  those  coincidences  in  the  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew,  espec- 
ially, that  are  the  most  striking.  In  Matthew  iv.  18,  we 
read,  "  And  Jesus,  walking  by  the  sea  of  Galilee,  saw  two 
brethren,  Simon  called  Peter,  and  Andrew  his  brother,  cast- 
ing a  net  into  the  sea  :  for  they  were  fishers.  And  he  saith 
unto  them.  Follow  me,  and  I  will  make  you  fishers  of  men. 
And  they  straightway  left  their  nets,  and  followed  him. 
And  going  on  from  thence,  he  saw  other  two  brethren,  James 
the  son  of  Zebedee,  and  John  his  brother,  in  a  ship  with 
(440) 


COINCIDENCES    IN    THE    FOUR    GOSPELS.  441 

Zebedee  their  father,  mending  their  nets."  Now,  the  inci- 
dental allusion  I  wish  to  notice  is  that  apparently  very  un- 
important one,  '••  mending  their  nets."  It  will  show  you,  by 
comparison  with  the  statement  in  Luke,  how  the  two  evan- 
gelists distinct  from  each  other  must  have  looked  at  the  very 
same  scene,  and  from  different  points  of  view  described  the 
very  same  circumstance.  Accordingly,  in  Luke  v.  we  read, 
"  And  it  came  to  pasSj  that,  as  the  people  pressed  upon  him 
to  hear  the  word  of  God,  he  stood  by  the  lake  of  Gennesa- 
ret,"  —  the  same  lake  differently  described,  —  "  and  saw 
two  ships  standing  by  the  lake  :  but  the  fishermen  were 
gone  out  of  them,  and  were  washing  their  nets.  And  he 
entered  into  one  of  the  ships,  which  was  Simon's,  and  prayed 
him  that  he  would  thrust  out  a  little  from  the  land.  And 
he  sat  down  and  taught  the  people  out  of  the  ship.  Now 
when  he  had  left  speaking,  he  said  unto  Simon,  Launch  out 
into  the  deep,  and  let  down  your  nets  for  a  draught.  And 
Simon  answering  said  unto  him,  Master,  we  have  toiled  all 
the  night,  and  have  taken  nothing  :  nevertlieless  at  thy  word 
I  will  let  down  the  net.  And  when  they  had  this  done, 
they  inclosed  a  great  multitude  of  fishes  :  and  their  net 
brake."  The  latent  thought  we  trace  in  connection  with 
these  two  passages  is,  that  the  statement  in  the  first  by 
the  evangelist  Matthew  indicates  the  net  was  old,  and 
broken,  and  needing  to  be  mended  ;  the  statement  in  the 
evangelist  Luke  is,  that  when  the  same  net,  at  the  very 
same  scene,  is  cast  in,  from  its  old  and  wasted  nature  it  was 
unable  to  bear  the  full  strain  or  pressure  to  which  it  was 
subjected,  and  naturally  broke.  Now  this  simple  incident 
indicates  that  the  two  evangelists  were  separate  from  each 
other,  describing  precisely  the  same  persons,  and  that  the 
narrative  of  each  is  literally  true  ;  the  one  hinting  uncon- 
sciously what  the  other  more  fully  narrates,  and  the  second 
illustrating  at  greater  length  the  very  conditions  which  the 
other  has  described. 


442  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

Let  me  take  another  instance  of  the  same  kind.  We  find 
in  Matthew  iv.  21  — the  same  verse  I  have  quoted  before  — 
"  And  going  on  from  thence,  he  saw  other  two  brethren, 
James  the  son  of  Zebedee,  and  John  his  brother,  in  a  ship 
with  Zebedee  their  father."  Now  it  is  quite  plain  that  the 
father  of  these  two  sons,  namely,  John  and  James,  was  alive. 
We  pass  on  to  Matthew  viii.  21,  and  we  find  another  allu- 
sion to  the  same  two  sons.  "  And  another  of  his  disciples 
said  to  him,  Lord,  suffer  me  first  to  go  and  bury  my  father." 
I  will  show  you  the  connection  of  this  when  I  have  quoted 
other  two  passages.  Then  I  turn  to  Matthew  xx.  20,  "  Then 
came  to  him  the  mother  of  Zebedee's  children  with  her  sons, 
worshipping  him."  Then  the  27th  chapter  of  this  very  same 
Gospel,  at  the  56th  verse,  we  find  these  words,  "  Among 
which  was  Mary  Magdalene,  and  Mary  the  mother  of  James 
and  Joses,  and  the  mother  of  Zebedee's  children."  Now  in 
the  first  of  these  passages  which  I  have  quoted,  when  John 
and  James  were  first  called  by  Christ,  you  read  that  Zebe- 
dee their  father  was  alive ;  when  you  come  again  to  the  last 
two  verses  that  I  have  read,  namely,  Matthew  xx.  20,  and 
xxvii,  56,  your  natural  inference  would  be,  that  the  father 
must  be  dead ;  because  the  two  sons  present  themselves 
again,  but  their  mother  only  is  with  them  now  -^  the  mother 
of  Zebedee's  children,  and  not  a  word  about  the  father. 
And  when  you  come  to  the  middle  verse,  Matthew  viii.  21, 
you  read  of  a  disciple  who  asks  leave  to  go  and  bury  his 
father,  evidently  Zebedee.  You  see,  therefore,  that  all 
these  four  passages  relate  to  one ;  in  each  passage  there 
is  a  touch  that  indicates  connection,  and  so  indicates  that  it 
was  an  actual  witness  of  these  facts  that  described  them  ; 
and  that  it  would  have  been  utterly  impossible  for  any  man 
to  have  made  such  delicate,  latent,  incidental  allusions,  if 
he  had  been  concocting  a  story  or  a  picture  out  of  his  own 
imagination. 

The  next  incident  I  will  allude  to  is  in  Matthew  viii.  14, 


COINCIDENCKS    IN    TIIIO    FOUli    GOSTELS.  443 

where  you  find  these  words,  "  And  when  Jesus  was  come 
into  Peter's  house,  he  saw  his  wife's  mother  laid,  and  sick  of 
a  fever."  Now  we  know  that  whether  Peter  was  married 
came  to  be  a  controversy  in  a  subsequent  era  of  the  Chris- 
tian Chui'ch.  If  this  Gospel  had  been  composed  to  meet 
that  controversy  in  any  shape  or  sense,  it  would  have  boldly, 
prominently,  and  in  a  controversial  tone,  stated  the  fact  that 
Petor  was  married.  But  here  the  fact  that  Peter  was  mar- 
ried is  not  laid  down  as  a  broad  assertion  in  the  narrative, 
but  it  is  let  out  as  an  incidental  thing,  where  there  was  no 
idea  of  disputing  it.  It  says  that  "  Peter's  wife's  mother 
was  sick  of  a  fever."  And  you  find  this  same  incidental 
allusion  strikingly  corroborated  when  you  go  to  St.  Paul ; 
for  he  says,  "  Have  we  not  power  to  lead  about  a  sis- 
ter, a  wife,  as  well  as  other  apostles,  and  as  the  brethren 
of  the  Lord,  and  Cephas  ?  "  The  fact  that  the  apostle  Paul 
calls  him  by  another  name,  Cephas,  would  indicate  that  he 
had  not  in  his  mind  the  allusion  to  Peter's  Avife's  mother 
on  the  part  of  the  evangelist  Matthew.  And  therefore,  out 
of  two  most  incidental  —  if  we  were  speaking  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  world  we  should  say  most  accidental  —  allusions, 
a  great  and  important  fact  comes  out,  important  for  its  sub- 
sequent application,  not  because  of  any  internal  doctrinal 
value  in  it  for  the  sanctification  of  the  heart  and  the  justifi- 
cation of  the  soul. 

Another  incident  is  in  Matthew  viii.  16.  There  we  read, 
"When  the  even  was  come,  they  brought  unto  him  many 
that  were  possessed  with  devils :  and  he  cast  out  the  spirits 
with  his  word,  and  healed  all  that  were  sick."  Now  the 
point  that  I  wish  to  bring  before  you  is,  "  When  the  even  was 
come  they  brought  unto  him  many  that  were  possessed  with 
devils."  We  naturally  ask,  why  did  they  wait  till  the  even- 
ing ?  If  people  were  sick,  you  would  have  thought  tliey 
would  have  tried  to  bring  them  by  day.  Let  us  read  a  little 
further,  and  we  shall  find  the  reason  and  explanation  of 


444  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

this.  Turn  with  me  to  the  4th  chapter  of  Luke's  Gospel,  at 
the  31st  verse,  which  is  the  parallel  passage,  and  you  will 
find  there,  "  He  came  down  to  Capernaum,  a  city  of  Galilee, 
and  taught  them  on  the  sabbath  days."  We  have  ascer- 
tained that  it  was  not  only  even,  but  in  the  parallel  passage 
that  it  was  the  evening  on  the  Sabbath  day.  But  still  that 
does  not  explain  to  us  why  they  delayed  to  bring  Iheir  sick 
till  the  evening.  We  go  further  on  in  the  Gospel  of  St. 
Matthew,  and  we  discover  the  reason.  In  Matthew  xii.  10, 
we  find  it  stated  —  "  And,  behold,  there  was  a  man  which 
had  his  hand  withered.  And  they  asked  him,  saying.  Is  it 
lawful  to  heal  on  the  Sabbath  days  ?  that  they  might  accuse 
him."  Now  at  once  the  reason  comes  out.  It  says,  they 
brought  the  sick  to  him  in  the  evening  :  we  turn  to  the  par- 
allel passage,  and  we  find  it  was  the  evening  of  the  Sab- 
bath. We  turn  to  a  third  passage,  and  we  find  that  the 
Jews  believed  that  it  was  unlawful  to  heal  upon  the  Sabbath 
day ;  and  therefore  the  reason  why  they  Avaited  till  the  Sab- 
bath evening  was,  that  they  might  not  break  that  law,  which 
forbade  persons  to  be  healed,  however  superstitigusly,  upon 
the  Sabbath  day.  It  is  thus  again  that  we  see  those  latent 
links  which  show  how  truly  the  evangelists  sketched  from  a 
living  original,  and  Kow  they  were  eye-witnesses  of  the 
facts  which  they  record. 

A  very  delicate  allusion  occurs  in  Matthew  ix.  10,  which 
is  also  worth  noticing  :  "  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  Jesus  sat 
at  meat  in  the  house,  behold,  many  publicans  and  sinners 
came  and  sat  down  with  him  and  his  disciples."  Now  you 
will  notice  how  this  same  event  is  recorded  by  Mark.  Rec- 
ollect, Matthew  here  is  recording  his  own  conversion  ;  let  us 
now  see  how  this  same  incident  is  recorded  in  Mark  ii.  14: 
"  And  as  he  passed  by,  he  saw  Levi  the  son  of  Alpheus  sit- 
ting at  the  receipt  of  custom,  and  said  unto  him.  Follow 
me.  And  he  arose  and  followed  him.  And  it  came  to  pass, 
that,  as  Jesus  sat  at  meat  in  his  house,  many  publicans  and 


COIXCIDEXCES    IN    TIIK    FOUR    GOSI'KLS.  445 

sinners  sat  also  together  with  Jesus  and  his  disciples."    Now 
just  notice  the  difference.     Matthew  is  so  conscious  that  lie 
is  describing  actual  things  that  he  sajs,  "  When  he  said,  Fol- 
low me,  he  followed  him  ;  and  Jesus  sat  in  the  house  ;  "  as- 
suming that  nobody  could  mistake  he  was  describing  his  own 
house.     It  is  so  natural  for  the  proprietor  of  the  house  to 
say,  "  He  sat  in  the  house."     But  when  another  evangelist 
describes  the  very  same  thing,  he  does  not  use  the  phrase, 
"  in  the  house,"  which  St.  Matthew  has  used  ;  but  the  pos- 
sessive pronoun,  and  says,  "  He  sat  in  his  house"  —  that  is, 
the  house  of  Levi,  or  Matthew.     Another  difference  here 
worth  noticing  occurs  in  Matthew  x.  2  :  "  Now  the  names 
of  the  twelve  apostles  are  these  ;  The  first,  Simon,  who  is 
called  Peter,  and  Andrew  his  brother ;  James  the  son  of 
Zebedee,  and  John  his  brother ;  Philip,  and  Bartholomew  ; 
Thomas,  and  Matthew  the  publican."     Now  here  is  an  inter- 
esting difference ;  in  the  same  account  given  by  Luke,  and 
also  by  Mark,  to  which  I  need  not  refer,  the  order  of  the 
names  is,  Matthew  and  Thomas  —  giving  Matthew  the  pre- 
cedence which  was  rightfully  his.     But  when  Matthew  de- 
scribes the  same  thing,  he  gives  himself  the  lowly  place,  and 
gives   Thomas  the  precedence.     In  the    next   place,  when 
Matthew  describes  himself  as  one   of  the  apostles,  he  calls 
himself,  "  Matthew  the  publican."     But    when    Mark  and 
Luke  give  the  very  same  catalogue,  they  omit  the   word 
"  publican,"  and  call  him  simply  Matthew.    Now  you  see  here 
breaking  out  most  beautifully  the  true  humility  of  St.  Mat- 
thew ;  putting  himself  in  the  lowly  place,  and  api)Iying  to 
himself  that  name  which  was  the  common  name  for  a  great 
sinner   among   the   Jews,    "Matthew    the   publican."     But 
w^hen  Mark  and  Luke  describe  the  same  thing,  they  detail  the 
exact  facts  of  the  case,  but  set  the  beautiful  example  of  omit- 
ting a  single    epithet    that  would  wound,  where  wounding 
was  neither  sanctifying,  nor  humbling,  nor  good.     We  have 
therefore  in  the  one  case   the,  finest  precedent  of  lowliness 

38 


446  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

of  mind ;  we  have  in  the  other  case  a  no  less  beautiful  prece- 
dent of  saying  nothing  that  is  evil  of  any,  if  we  cannot  say 
all  that  we  could  wish  to  say  of  good. 

Let  me  notice  another  incident.     The  death  of  Joseph  the 
husband  of  Mary  must  have  occurred  during  the  ministry 
of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus   Christ.     Yet  it  is  not  so 
stated  directly,  but  it  is  implied  by  every  evangelist.     I  say 
the  death  of  Joseph  the  husband  of  Mary  must  have  occur- 
red during  the  ministry  of  Jesus  ;  and  though  it  is  not  stated 
expressly,  yet  it  is  implied  in  all  the  four  evangelists.     For 
instance  in  Matthew  xii.  46,  "  While  he  yet  talked  to  the 
people,  behold,  his  mother  and  his  brethren  stood  without, 
desiring  to  speak  with  him."     The  mother  and  the  brethren, 
but  no  mention  of  the  father.     In  Mark  vi.  3,  we  read,  "  Is 
not  this  the  carpenter,  the  son  of  Mary,  the  brother  of  James, 
and  Joses,  and  of  Juda,  and  Simon  ?  and  are  not  his  sisters 
here  with  us  ?  "     If  the  father  had  been  living,  in  all  prob- 
ability the    father,  so  reputed,  would    have  had  his  name 
mentioned  here  also.     In  Luke  viii.  19,  it  is  said,  "  Then 
came  to  him  his  mother  and  his  brethren,  and  could  not 
come  at  him  for  the  press."     Now  the  fact  that  the  reputed 
or  legal  father  of  our  Lord  is  referred  to  at  the  beginning, 
but  that  in  all  subsequent  appearances  of  the  family  of  Jesus 
—  for  it  is  evidently  implied  that  the  Virgin  Mary  had  chil- 
dren subsequently  to  the  birth  of  the  Son  of  Man  —  Joseph 
is  not  seen  :  —  the  brothers  of  Jesus  according  to  the  flesh 
are  all  specially  mentioned  here  ;  but  you  have  not  a  word 
about   Joseph  ;  —  now    what   is   the   necessary    inference  ? 
That  Joseph  must  have  died  in  the  interval,  and  that  Mary 
was  a  widow  with  her  family,  and  as  such  often  visited  and 
saw  our  blessed  Lord.  ' 

An  instance  occurs  in  Matthew  xiv.  1 :  "At  that  time 
Herod  the  tetrarch  heard  of  the  fi\me  of  Jesus,  and  said 
unto  his  servants.  This  is  John  the  Baptist ;  he  is  risen  from 
the  dead."     Now  the  question  that  naturally  occurs  here  is, 


COINCIDENCES    IN    THE    FOUR    GOSPELS.  447 

Why  did  he  speak  this,  or  say  this  to  his  servants  ?  Why 
did  Herod  the  teti-arch,  when  he  lieard  of  the  fame  of  Jesus, 
say  this  to  his  servants  —  not  to  his  chief  ministers,  not  to 
his  soldiers,  but  to  his  servants  ?  Tlie  reason  of  this  inci- 
dentally comes  out  in  the  8th  chapter  of  the  Gospel  accord- 
ing to  St.  Luke,  in  the  2d  and  3d  verses,  where  "  certain 
women  which  had  been  healed  of  evil  spirits  and  infirmi- 
ties, Mary  called  Magdalene,  out  of  whom  went  seven  devils, 
and  Joanna  the  wife  of  Chuza  Herod's  steward,  and  Su- 
sanna, and  many  others,  which  ministered  unto  him  of  their 
substance."  The  reason  is  plain  iiow  why  Herod  said  so 
to  his  servants  —  that  some  of  his  servants  had  been  con- 
verted to  the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel  through  the  preach- 
ing of  our  blessed  Lord.  And  therefore,  when  he  heard 
of  the  fame  of  Jesus,  "  he  said  unto  his  servants.  This  is  John 
the  Baptist  "  —  whom  he  had  murdered  —  "  he  is  risen  from 
the  dead." 

There  is  another  feature  also  worth  noticing  in  the  case 
of  Herod,  which  will  cast  light  upon  his  character  and  his 
words.  In  Mark  viii.  15,  we  read,  "  And  Jesus  charged 
them,  saying.  Take  heed,  beware  of  the  leaven  of  the  Phari- 
sees, and  of  the  leaven  of  Herod."  In  St.  Matthew  he  says, 
"  Beware  of  the  leaven  of  the  Sadducees."  The  inference 
from  this  juxtaposition  or  parallelism  shows  us  that  Herod 
was  what  we  know  on  other  grounds  and  from  other  testi- 
mony he  was  —  a  Sadducee,  or  a  disbchever  in  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  or  in  the  resurrection  of  the  body  from  the 
dead.  Now  then  you  find  accordingly  at  the  7th  verse  of 
the  9  th  chapter  of  Luke,  "  Now  Herod  the  tetrarch  heard 
of  all  that  was  done  by  Jesus  :  and  he  was  perplexed,  be- 
cause that  it  was  said  of  some,  that  John  was  risen  from  the 
dead."  Why  perplexed  ?  Because  he  did  not  believe  in 
the  immortality  of  the  soul,  or  in  the  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
being  a  Sadducee  ;  and  it  is  incidentally  stated  in  one  Gos- 
pel that  he  was  a  Sadducee ;  it  is  incidentally  mentioned  in 


448  SCUIPTUKE    READINGS. 

another,  without  saying  that  he  was  a  Sadducee,  that  he  was  * 
perplexed  when  he  heard  of  the  fame  of  Jesus,  some  saying 
that  John  was  risen  from  the  dead  ;  alleging,  in  another  of 
the  Gospels,  it  is  said,  that  John  was  risen  from  the  dead. 
But  in  this  last  Gospel    he  evidently  shows  that  his  con- 
science was  stronger  that  his  convictions  ;  and  that  having 
perpetrated  the   heinous  mui-der  of  John  the  Baptist,  his 
conscience  made  him  fear  that-  he  had  risen  from  the  dead 
to  take  retribution  on  the  sin  of  which  he  had  been  guilty. 
Now  these  incidental  allusions  are  most  interesting  as  indi- 
cating the  harmony  of  the  Gospel,  the  independence  of  each 
writer,  the  reality  of  the  facts  they  delineate  and  explain, 
and  cast  light  at  the  same  time  upon  exp;-essions,  that,  with- 
out   such   incidental   allusions    scattered  elsewhere,   would 
be  altogether  inexplicable  to  us.     I  will  give  you  another  of 
these  expressions,  occurring  in  the  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew, 
that  is  and  would  be  inexplicable  except  for  an  incidental 
clause  in  a  parallel  Gospel.     It  is  in  the  26th  chapter  of 
Matthew,  where  we  read  at  the  67th  verse,  "  Then  did  they 
spit  in  his  face,  and  buffeted  him  ;  and  others  smote  him 
■\vith  the  palms  of  their  hands,  saying,  Prophesy  unto  us, 
thou  Christ,  "Who  is  he  that  smote  thee  ?  "     Now  this  seems 
absurd.     The  persons  that  smote  hun  were  standing  before 
him  ;  how  then  could  they  ask  him,  "  Prophesy,  who  smote 
thee  ?  "     Why  you  would  say  when  you  read  this  passage. 
How  could  he  fail  to  state  who  smote  him?     He  felt  the 
blow  ;  the  person  was  standing  beside  him  and  before  him  ; 
what  meaning  therefore,  you  naturally  ask,  is  there  in  the 
expression,  "  Prophesy,  who  smote  thee  ?  "     We  could  not 
answer  that  except  by  reference  to  a  parallel  passage,  where 
an  incidental   thing  creeps   out  that  casts  light  upon  the 
whole.     In  Luke  xxii.  64  we  read,  "  And  when  they  had 
blindfolded  him,  they  struck  him  on  the  face,  and  asked  him, 
saying,  Prophesy,  who  is  it  that  smote  thee  ?  "     Now  you 
have  here  the  explanation  at  once,  namely,  that  Jesus  was 


COIN'CIDF.N'CES    IN    THE    FOLK    OO.SI'ELS.  449 

blindfolded ;  and  when  they  said  unto  him  in  one  Gospel, 
"  Prophesy,  unto  us,  thou  Christ,  Who  is  he  that  smote 
thee  ? "  it  is  easy  to  see,  that  being  blindfolded  he  rx»uld 
not  see  the  hand  of  the  person  who  smote  him  ;  and  that 
'•  Prophesy  who  smote  thee  ?  "  is  thus  rendered  perfectly 
intelligible  — -  namely,  that  he  could  not  see  who  they  were 
that  struck  him  the  blow ;  and  therefore  in  mockery  they 
said  to  him,  "  Prophesy  who  it  was  that  smote  thee." 

Another  interesting  incident  creeps  out  from  the  charges 
in  which  Jesu*  was  condemned-  Let  as  look  at  the  perfect 
consistency  of  what  occurred  by  considering  the  different 
courts  before  which  Jesus  was  brought.  In  Matthew  xxvL 
6.5,  '•  Then  the  high-priest  rent  his  clothes,  saying.  He  hath 
spoken  blasphemy ;  what  further  need  have  we  of  wit- 
nesses? behold,  now  ye  have  heard  his  blasphemy."  Xow 
just  notice  what  this  court  was  before  which  .Jesas  wa? 
brought-  It  was  a  court  or  sanhedrim  of  the  Scribes  and 
the  Pharisees ;  -and  the  charge  or  the  accusation  against  him 
there  was  appropriate  to  the  ecclesiastical  court  before  which 
it  was  lodged — namely,  the  charge  of  blasphemy.  But 
when  he  is  brought  on  another  occasion,  as  is  recorded  in 
Luke's  Gospel,  the  2-jd  chapter,  before  another  court,  you 
find  the  accusation  or  the  charge  assumes  another  5haf>e. 
Accordingly  we  reafl,  "  And  the  whole  multitude  of  them 
arose,  and  led  him  unto  Pilate-  And  they  began  to  ar;cuse 
him-  saying.  We  found  thL«  fellow  perverting  the  nation,  and 
forbidding  to  give  tribute  to  Caesar,  saying,  that  he  himself 
is  Christ  a  King."  Now  you  mark ;  when  he  is  brought 
before  the  ecclesiastical  court,  the  accusation  assumes  the 
shape  of  an  ecclesiastical  offence ;  when  he  is  brouglit  before 
a  secular  or  civil  court-  the  accusation  assumes  the  sliape  of 
a  civil  or  secular  crime-  Now  the  two  evangeii-.ts  flo  not 
Dodce  the  fact,  or  comment  uj»on  it ;  it  is  described,  with  all 
the  naturalness,  if  I  may  ase  the  expression-  of  the  actual 
occurrence-  And  you  only  discover  the  reasons  of  the  dia- 
38* 


450  ^  SCnil'TURE    RKADINGS. 

tinct  accusation  by  studying  tlie  distinct  and  the  independent 
tribunals  before  which  Christ  was  successively  brought. 
Again,  in  Matthew  xxvi.  71,  we  find  these  words  :  "And  when 
he  "  —  that  is,  Peter  —  "  was  gone  out  into  the  porch,  another 
maid  saw  him,  and  said  unto  them  that  were  there.  This  fel- 
low was  also  with  Jesus  of  Nazareth."  Now  the  question 
is,  how  that  maid  could  know  Peter ;  because  the  record  is, 
that  they  came  in  a  tumultuous  crowd ;  yet  Peter,  when  he 
was  gone  out  into  the  porch,  was  seen  by  a  maid,  who  said 
unto  them,  "  This  fellow  was  also  with  Jesus  of  Nazareth." 
The  question  is,  how  could  she  distinguish  Peter  as  a  fol- 
lower and  a  disciple  of  Christ  in  a  tumultuous  assembly, 
Peter  standing  or  sitting  at  a  distance  ;  and  knowing  as  we 
do  too,  from  his  character,  that  he  kept  as  quiet  and  con- 
cealed as  possible  ?  We  find  the  explanation  of  it  at  once  by 
referring  to  John  xviii.  16  —  "  But  Peter  stood  at  the  door" 
-^  the  same  place  where  we  find  him  described  as  standing 
in  Matthew.  "  Then  went  out  that  other  disciple,  which 
was  known  unto  the  high-priest,  and  spake  unto  her  that 
kept  the  door,  and  brought  in  Peter."  He  evidently  went 
to  the  maid  who  had  charge  of  the  door,  and  said,  "  This 
Peter  is  my  friend ;  he  is  a  follower  of  Jesus.  Will  you 
allow  him  to  pass  in  ?  He  may  be  called  upon  in  court  to 
give  evidence ;  it  is  necessary  that  you  should  give  him 
leave  to  pass  in,"  The  maid  was  thus  introduced  to 
Peter,  and  Peter  to  her  ;  and  thus  she  easily  recognized 
him  as  that  fellow^,  as  she  called  him,  who  was  a  companion 
of  Jesus. 

Another  instance  that  indicates  perfect  unity  pervading 
all  these  records  is  in  Mark  xv.  43,  where  it  is  said,  "  Jo- 
seph of  Arimathea  came,  and  went  in  boldly  unto  Pilate, 
and  craved  the  body  of  Jesus." 

Now,  why  is  that  word  added  —  "  boldly  ?  "  You  would 
have  thought  that  a  person  going  to  a  superior  would  have 
asked  very  humbly.     But  something  must  have  occurred,  or 


COINCIDKXCES    IN    TIIK    FOUR    GOSPELS.  451 

something  must  have  been  before,  that  made  the  evangelist 
notice  here  that  he  went  boldly  into  the  presence  of  Pilate, 
and  craved  the  body  of  Jesus.  If  you  read  the  history  of 
Joseph  of  Arimathea,  you  find  he  was  a  disciple  of  Jesus, 
John  xix.  38  —  "  He  was  a  disciple  of  Jesus,  but  secretly, 
for  fear  of  the  Jews."  And  therefore  the  other  evangelist, 
in  recording  this  act  on  the  part  of  Joseph  of  Arimathea, 
notices  that  his  fear,  his  secrecy  —  which  he  himself  had  not 
recorded,  mind  you  —  had  all  passed  away ;  and  he  calls 
boldly  upon  Pilate  to  give  up  the  body  of  -Jesus.  Now 
recollect  the  fact  that  Mark  says  nothing  about  Joseph  as 
being  a  disciple  secretly  for  fear  of  the  Jews  ;  the  evange- 
list John,  who  wrote  long  after  Mark,  says,  he  was  secretly 
a  disciple  for  fear  of  the  Jews,  being  a  timid  man.  But 
Mark  lets  out  a  fact  that  shows  that  he  knew  his  character, 
though  he  did  not  describe  it,  just  as  well  as  John  knew  it, 
who  has  described  it  subsequently  at  length ;  and  therefore, 
to  indicate  that  he  knew  his  character,  and  with  all  the  nat- 
uralness of  a  true  sketch  of  Joseph,  of  a  true  historian  of 
facts,  he  adds  the  words,  "  he  went  in  boldly  ;  "  and  that  word 
casts  light  upon  his  whole  character  ;  shows  that  the  curtain 
of  his  fears  was  lifted  away ;  and  that  the  heart  that  beat 
so  devotedly  in  secret  beats  boldly  and  heroically  now  in  the 
face  of  all  his  foes. 

All  I  ask  the  reader  to  notice  is  the  interesting  interlink- 
ing of  thought,  of  facts,  .ind  of  incidents,  in  this  process, 
that  satisfactorily  proves  that  the  character  was  what  it  is 
vividly  described  to  have  been  in  one  passage,  while  it  is 
only  brought  out  from  an  incidental  allusion  in  another. 
And  next,  learn  this  most  precious  fact ;  that  when  you 
cannot  discover  the  exact  reason  of  a  statement  in  one 
Gospel,  yet  by  very  diligent  and  laborious  search  you  will 
find  in  another  some  long  latent  link  that,  brought  into 
contact  with  the  statement  in  the  first,  will  show  harmony 
where  you  thought  there  was  discord,  and  unity  where  you 


452  SCRIPTUUK    RKADINGS. 

thought  there  was  division ;  and  the  result  will  be  more 
than  ever  triumphant  in  your  mind,  "  Thy  word,  O  God, 
is  truth." 

The  next  coincidence  I  will  notice  is  in  the  second  chap- 
ter of  John's  Gospel,  where  we  read  of  the  marriage  feast 
at  Cana  of  Galilee,  and  Mary  the  mother  of  Jesus  coming 
in,  and  saying,  "  They  have  no  wine."  Then  the  order  of 
Jesus,  in  the  7th  verse,  "  Fill  the  water-pots  with  water. 
And  they  filled  them  to  the  brim."  Then  see  the  remark, 
in  the  10th  verse,  of  the  governor  of  the  feast :  "  Every 
man  at  the  beginning  doth  set  forth  good  wine ;  and  when 
men  have  well  drunk  "  —  that  is,  have  drunk  just  enough, 
and  not  more  than  enough,  —  "  then  that  which  is  worse  : 
but  thou  hast  kept  the  good  wine  until  now."  Now,  why 
were  these  water-pots  placed  at  this  festival  ?  The  answer 
is,  they  were  used  by  the  Jews  for  washing  their  hands  im- 
mediately before  sitting  down  to  partake  of  the  feast  that 
had  been  provided  for  them.  You  will  notice  here  a  coinci- 
dence that  would  not  strike  at  the  first ;  namely,  that  the  feast 
must  have  advanced  a  considerable  way,  and  near  its  close, 
before  Jesus  gave  the  order  to  replenish  the  vessels ;  and 
then  turned  the  water  with  which  they  were  replenished  into 
wine.  The  fact  that  he  said,  "  Fill  the  water-pots  with 
water,"  proves  that  they  had  been  emptied  ;  but  for  what 
purpose  emptied  ?  The  water  had  been  all  drawn  off  for 
the  purpose  of  washing  the  hands  of  the  guests,  before  they 
sat  down  to  the  feast.  Then  his  order  to  fill  these  shows 
that  the  feast  had  begun,  that  it  had  proceeded  far,  when 
Jesus  turned  the  water  into  wine  ;  and  the  remark  made  by 
the  governor  of  the  feast  shows  that  this  was  at  the  close  of 
it :  "  Every  man  at  the  beginning  doth  set  forth  good  wine  : 
but  thou  hast  kept  the  good  wine  until  now  "  —  that  is,  the 
end  of  the  festival.  Now,  this  simple  coincidence  is  this. 
He  does  not  state  that  the  vessels  had  been  emptied  by  the 
water  being  drawn  off  for  washing  the  hands  of  the  guests, 


COIXCIDKNCKS    IN    THE    FOUR    GOSPELS.  453 

previous  to  tlie  festival ;  but  the  nuri'ative  assumes  an  ac- 
quaintance of  the  universal  usage,  and  carries,  therefore,  an 
air  of  candor,  sincerity,  and  truth  upon  it,  the  more  remark- 
able that  he  does  not  explain  why  the  vessels  were  found 
empty  at  that  particular  period  of  the  festival. 

Another  latent  harmony  is  detected  in  the  3d  chapter  of 
the  Gospel  of  St.  John  :  "  There  was  a  man  of  the  Phari- 
sees, named  Nicodemus,  a  ruler  of  the  Jcavs  :  the  same  came 
to  Jesus  by  night."  Now,  what  I  wish  to  notice  here  is  this 
most  interesting  fact  —  that  on  every  occasion  where  some 
one  meets  Jesus,  the  incident  of  the  meeting,  whatever  that 
was,  is  made  the  text  very  much  of  the  discourse.  Thus, 
for  instance,  when  the  Capernaites  followed  him,  in  the  Gth 
chapter  of  this  Gospel,  seeking  for  loaves  made  by  a  miracle, 
Jesus  preached  to  them  upon  the  living  bread  that  cometh 
down  from  heaven.  When  the  woman  found  him  sitting  at 
Jacob's  well,  and  when  he  asked  water  to  drink,  and  she 
made  some  remark  upon  the  Jews  having  no  communion 
with  the  Samaritans,  Jesus  immediately  preached  a  sermon, 
suggested  by  the  well,  upon  living  water  :  "  Whoso  drinketh 
of  this  water  of  Jacob's  well,  shall  thirst  again ;  but  whoso- 
ever drinketh  of  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him,  shall  never 
thirst."  You  see,  therefore,  when  he  spoke  to  the  Caper- 
naites, he  made  their  hunger  for  literal  bread  the  text  that 
suggested  a  lesson  on  the  bread  of  life.  When  the  woman 
at  Jacob's  well  spoke  to  him  about  water  from  that  well,  he 
made  that  a  text  suggestive  of  living  water.  Now,  the  fea- 
ture in  Nicodemus'  arrival  is,  that  he  came  to  Jesus  by 
night  —  that  is,  in  darkness.  Let  us,  therefore,  see  some  of 
the  great  truths  that  Jesus  speaks.  Look  at  the  19th  verse 
of  the  3d  chapter  of  St.  John  :  "  And  this  is  the  condemna- 
tion that  light  is  come  into  the  world,  and  men  loved  dark- 
ness rather  than  light,  because  their  deeds  were  evil.  For 
every  one  that  doeth  evil  hateth  the  light,  neither  cometh  to 
the  light,  lest  his  deeds  should  be  reproved.     But  he  that 


454  SCRIPTURE    READINGS. 

doeth  truth  cometh  to  the  light,  that  his  deeds  may  be  made 
manifest,  that  they  are  wrought  in  God."  You  can  see, 
therefore,  the  reason  for  this  pecuHar  line  of  thought  upon 
light,  and  upon  coming  to  the  light,  and  upon  loving  the 
light,  evidently  suggested  by  the  fact  which  you  would  not 
at  first  notice,  —  that  Nicodemus  was  afraid  to  come  to 
Jesus  in  daylight,  and  came  to  him  only  in  the  stillness  and 
secrecy  of  night. 

Another  instance  will  come  out,  by  referring  to  the  visit 
of  our  Lord  to  the  well  of  Jacob,  and  his  remarks  to  the 
woman  of  Samaria — not  as  connected  with  living   water, 
but  on  a  subject  distinct  from  that.     You  read  in  John  iv. 
5  :  "  Then  cometh  he  to  a  city  of  Samaria,  which  is  called 
Sychar,  near  to  the  parcel  of  ground  that  Jacob  gave  to  his 
son  Joseph."     And  after  he  had  spoken  to  the  woman  a 
little,  he  says  to  her,  at  the  35th  verse  :  "  Say  not  ye.  There 
are  yet  four  months,  and  then  cometh  harvest?  behold,  I 
say  unto  you,  Lift  up  your  eyes,  and  look  on  the  fields  ;  for 
they  are  white  already  to  harvest.     And  he  that  reapeth  re- 
ceiveth  wages,  and  gathereth  fruit  unto  life  eternal :   that 
both  he  that  soweth  and  he  that  reapeth  may  rejoice  to- 
gether."    Now,  what  I  wish   you   to  notice  is  this  :   that 
coming  to  Sychar,  a  city  in  Samaria,  he  remarked  to  the 
woman  that  the  fields  were  ripe  to  the  harvest  —  that  is, 
that  there  was  a  noble  opportunity  presented  in  that  country 
of  gathering  souls  as  trophies  of  the  power  of  the  Gospel  of 
Christ ;  in  other  words,  that  Samaria  was  ripe  and  ready 
for  the  Gospel.     Now  turn  to  a  passage,  as  an  illustration 
of  this,  which  you  will  find  in  Acts  viii.  5th,  6th,  and  12th 
verses ;  and  you  will  see  how  truly  our  Lord  described  the 
city  of  Samaria  in  this  Gospel,  by  what  subsequently  oc- 
curred when  a  preacher  went  to  Samaria  (Acts  viii.  5)  : 
"  Then  Philip  went  down  to  the  city  of  Samaria  "  —  evi- 
dently the  same  Sychar  that  our  Lord  spoke  about  to  the 
woman  at   the    well    of   Samaria   several   years   before  — ■ 


COINCIDENCES    IN    THE    FOUK    GOSPELS.  455 

"  and  preached  Christ  unto  them  "  —  tliat  is,  the  Samaritans. 
"  And  the  people  "  —  that  is,  the  Samaritans  —  "  gave  heed 
unto  those  things  wliich  PhiUp  spake,  hearing  and  seeing 
the  miracles  which  he  did."  Then  at  the  12th  verse  :  "  But 
when  they  believed  Philip  preaching  the  things  concerning 
the  kingdom  of  God,  and  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  they 
were  baptized,  both  men  and  women."  Now,  notice  the  in-  . 
teresting  connection  here.  The  assertion  of  our  Lord  to 
the  woman  of  Samaria,  four  or  five,  or  probably  six,  -=-  nay, 
more  than  that,  perhaps  six  or  seven  years  before,  —  the 
assertion  of  our  Lord  was :  "  Your  country  is  just  ready  for 
the  Gospel ;  and  if  a  preacher  will  go  forth  to  preach,  he 
will  get  souls  for  his  hire,  just  as  rapidly  as  a  reaper  that 
goes  to  cut  down  the  ripe  corn  will  get  sheaves  to  reward 
him."  Well,  now,  the  years  pass  away  —  several  years  at 
last  pass  away,  and  Philip  goes  down  to  this  very  place  — 
probably  not  recollecting  the  4th  chapter  of  St.  John,  not 
then  written ;  and  he  preaches  to  the  people  of  Samaria, 
and  the  people,  men  and  women,  listen  and  believe,  and  are 
baptized  and  admitted  into  the  Chi'istian  church.  You  have 
here,  then,  another  striking  proof  of  harmony  between  two 
speakers  totally  distinct  and  different  from  each  other,  in 
different  places  and  under  different  circumstances ;  indi- 
cating the  truthfulness  of  all  that  Jesus  said,  and  the  truth- 
fulness also  of  the  record  of  the  results  of  Philip's 
preaching. 

The  next  passage  I  refer  to  is  John  xviii.  36:  "Jesus 
answered,  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world  :  if  my  kingdom 
were  of  this  world,  then  would  my  servants  fight,  that  I 
should  not  be  delivered  to  the  Jews."  Now,  what  I  wish  to 
notice  here  is  this.  When  Jesus  said,  —  "  My  kingdom  is 
not  of  this  world  :  if  my  kingdom  were  of  this  world,  then 
would  my  servants  fight,"  would  not  you  have  expected  that 
some  one  present,  while  he  was  standing  at  the  bar  of  the 
judge,  would  have  said:  "Why,  one  of  your  servants  did 


456  SCRIPTURE    READIXGS. 

fight  for  you  ;  for  did  not  one  of  them  (Peter)  cut  off  the 
ear  of  Malchus,  the  high-priest's  servant  ?  And  yet  you 
talk  as  if  your  servants  would  not  fight  for  you  ?  "  And 
to  show  how  natural  it  would  have  been  to  expect  this  re- 
tort, you  find  in  a  previous  passage  that  a  relative  of  the 
man  whose  ear  was  cut  off  was  actually  present ;  for  we 
read  in  verse  26th  of  this  same  chapter,  "  One  of  the  ser- 
vants of  the  high-priest,  being  his  kinsman  whose  ear  Peter 
cut  off,  saith,  Did  not  I  see  thee  in  the  garden  with  him  ?  " 
Then,  how  comes  it  to  pass  that  this  man,  the  kinsman  of 
Malchus,  whose  ear  was  cut  off  by  Peter's  sword,  did  not 
stand  up  and  say,  "  How  can  you  talk  about  your  kingdom 
being  not  of  this  world,  and  alleging  that  your  sei'vants 
would  fight  for  you  if  it  were,  and  saying  that  they  do  not  and 
would  not  fight  for  you,  because  your  kingdom  is  spiritual  ?" 
The  reason  comes  out  plainly  enough,  by  referring  to  another 
Gospel,  though  the  Evangelist  was  not  thinking  of  the  pos- 
sibility of  such  a  coincidence  ;  for  we  read  in  Luke  xxii.  50, 
the  following  statement,  which  will  show  the  reason  why 
this  accusation  was  not  brought  forward  :  "  And  one  of  them  " 
—  that  is,  Peter  —  "  smote  the  servanf  of  the  high-priest, 
and  cut  off  his  right  ear.  And  Jesus  answered  and  said, 
Suffer  ye  thus  far.  And  he  touched  his  ear,  and  healed 
him."  Now  you  can  see  the  secret.  If  they  had  brought 
forward  the  fact  that  Peter,  one  of  his  servants,  did  fight  for 
him,  and  that  the  proof  of  it  was  that  he  cut  off  an  ear  of 
'Malchus,  a  servant  of  the  high-priest,  they  would  have  been 
constrained  to  produce  the  man ;  and  they  would  have  seen 
the  part  that  was  cut  off  restored,  without  a  trace  left  behind 
of  the  wound ;  and  this  would  have  been  inesistible  proof 
that  Jesus  had  power  to  work  miracles  ;  and  this  proof 
against  what  Jesus  said  would  have  done  them  more  dam- 
age than  by  letting  it  alone.  You  can  see,  therefore,  tliat 
there  peeps  out  from  the  statement  of  another  Evangelist, 
though  not  dreaming  of  any  such  use  to  be  made  of  it,  that 


COINCIDENCES    IN    THE    FOUR    GOSPELS.  457 

tliey  kept  tliis  proof —  you  would  have  thought  triumphant 
proof — against  the  statement  of  Jesus  in  secrecy  and  silence, 
because  they  could  not  have  answered  this  argument  of  his 
without  in  the  very  answer  bringing  forward  a  proof  that  he 
could  heal  the  sick,  restore  the  ear  to  its  place  as  was  the 
other,  and  thus  proved  himself  to  be  the  Son  of  God,  armed 
with  all  power  in  heaven  and  on  earth. 

Another  evidence  of  truthfulness  is  in  John  xx.  verses  4 
to  8.  Verse  4th  :  "  So  they  "  —  that  is,  Peter  and  John  — 
"  ran  both  together :  and  the  other  disciple  did  outrun  Peter, 
and  came  first  to  the  sepulchre.  And  he  stooping  down, 
and  looking  in,  saw  the  linen  clothes  lying ;  yet  went  he  not 
in.  Then  cometh  Simon  Peter  following  him,  and  went  into 
the  sepulchre,  and  seeth  the  linen  clothes  lie,  and  the  nap- 
kin, that  was  about  his  head,  not  lying  with  the  linen  clothes, 
but  wrapped  together  in  a  place  by  itself.  Then  went  in 
also  that  other  disciple,  which  came  first  to  the  sepulchre, 
and  he  saw,  and  believed."  Now,  you  will  naturally  say, 
this  is  a  very  minute  statement ;  and  minute  statements 
made  by  an  historian,  always  lay  him  open  to  exposure  if 
he  states  what  is  untrue.  Now,  these  minute  statements  are 
seen  to  be  most  just,  exact,  and  accurate,  by  recollecting  the 
two  persons  here  described.  Peter  was  a  very  old  man : 
the  evidence  that  he  was  so  is  a  remark  of  our  Lord  at  the 
close  of  this  very  Gospel,  "  When  thou  wast  young  thou 
girdedst  thyself "  —  implying  that  Peter  was  now  an  old 
man.  John,  we  know,  was  a  very  young  man,  for  he  lived 
long  after  Peter  —  forty  or  fifty  years,  —  and  died  at  a  good 
old  age,  at  the  close  of  the  first  century.  Knowing  this, 
mark  how  each  clause  in  the  passage  I  have  read,  without 
the  writer  thinking  of  their  being  brought  forward,  proves 
these  facts.  "  The  two  ran  together  ;  and  the  other  disci- 
ple "  —  that  is,  John,  who  never  calls  himself  by  his  own 
name,  but  always  calls  himself  the  other  disciple,  —  "  the 
other  disciple  did  outrun  Peter."     Why  outrun  him  ?   Why, 

39 


458  SCKIPTURE    HEADINGS. 

the  young  man,  Jolni,  outran,  as  you  might  expect,  the  old. 
man,  Peter.  Well,  then  you  go  to  the  oth  verse  ;  "  And 
John  stooping  down,  and  looking,  saw  the  linen  clothes  ly- 
ing ;  yet  went  he  not  in."  A  young  person  is  timid,  —  nat- 
urally timid,  —  and,  startled  and  amazed  by  the  fact  that 
the  dead  Saviour,  as  he  thought,  was  not  there,  but  the  linen 
clothes  carefully  laid  aside,  he  was  frightened  ;  and  the  con- 
sequence of  this  frightening,  so  natural  to  a  young  man, 
was,  that  he  went  not  in.  "  Then  cometli  Simon  Peter  fol- 
lowing him,  and  went  into  the  sepulchre."  Now,  remem- 
ber Peter's  constant  precipitancy.  He  rushed  into  the  sea, 
and  was  almost  drowned  in  trying  to  reach  his  Lord  ;  and 
he  displays  here  the  characteristic  feature  that  he  always 
evinced :  he  does  not  stop  to  wait,  whether  danger  or  not ; 
but  the  moment  that  his  old  and  infirm  limbs  enabled  him  to 
reach  the  sepulchre,  that  moment  he  rushes  in  where  John 
w^ould  scarcely  dare  to  look  in.  We  read  in  the  8th  verse, 
"  Then  went  in  also  that  other  disciple."  Here  the  young 
man,  at  first  naturally  afraid,  his  fear  dispelled  by  the  fact 
that  the  aged  man  had  gone  into  the  sepulchre,  and  seen 
that  there  was  nothing  so  extraordinary  or  supernatural  as 
was  likely  to  do  them  barm.  Now,  how  completely  does 
this  narrative  bear  upon  its  face  the  evidence  of  reality  — 
how  evident  that  none  but  the  writer  of  an  actual  occur- 
rence, of  an  actual  transaction,  could  have  done  this ;  and, 
therefore,  so  far  a  proof  of  the  authenticity,  genuineness,  and 
truthfulness  of  the  narrative. 

It  has  been  objected,  in  the  next  place,  to  the  Gospel  of 
St.  John,  that  nowhere  does  he  give  an  account  of  the  as- 
cension of  our  blessed  Lord  after  his  resurrection  from  the 
dead ;  and  it  has  also  been  objected  that  nowhere  does  he 
give  an  account,  minute  and  specific,  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 
And  yet  the  moment  you  read  the  13th  chapter  of  the  Gos- 
pel of  St.  John,  you  see  that  the  institution  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  is  implied ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  when  you  read 


COINCIDENCKS    TX    THE    FOUR    GOSTKLS.  459 

the  20th  chapter  of  St.  John,  at  tlie  ITlli  verso,  you  sec  that 
the  ascension,  which  he  does  not  describe,  is  implied  and  as- 
sumed as  certain.  For  instance,  John  xx.  17:  "Jesus  saith 
unto  her,  Touch  me  not ;  for  I  am  not  yet  ascended  to  my 
Father  :  but  go  to  my  brethren,  and  say  unto  them,  I  as- 
cend unto  my  Father  and  your  Father."  Now,  tliere  is  no 
record  in  this  Gospel  of  the  ascension  ;  but  yet  there  is  an 
allusion  to  it  so  pointed,  that  you  can  at  once  see  it  was  as- 
sumed as  a  fact,  and  that  John  leaves  out  the  minute  descrip- 
tion of  it  purposely  and  designedly.  So,  in  the  13th  chap- 
ter of  this  same  Gosi)el  there  is  a  sort  of  allusion  to  the 
Lord's  Supper,  but  there  is  no  record  of  its  institution  as 
there  is  in  Matthew  and  in  Luke.  You  can  see,  therefore, 
that  John  knew  that  the  other  evangelists  had  recorded  this 
institution  at-  full  length  ;  and  he  assumes  the  fact,  and  re- 
cords what  is  connected  with  that  fact  at  fuller  length,  and 
with  greater  minuteness. 

Let  me  notice,  in  the  next  place,  that,  in  reading  through 
the  Gospels,  you  must  often  have  noticed  that  the  great  op- 
ponents of  our  Lord,  and  of  his  ministry,  were  always  the  • 
Phariseees  —  very  rarely  the  Sadducees,  almost  invariably 
the  Pharisees.  Plence  our  Lord's  most  solemn  woes  were 
denounced  upon  them  :  "  Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Phari- 
sees, hypocrites."  But  again,  when  we  pass  the  Gospels, 
and  come  to  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  a  new  feature  turns 
up :  the  inveterate  opponents  of  the  apostles,  and  of  their 
preaching,  in  the  Acts,  are  no  longer  the  Pharisees,  but  the 
Sadducees.  Now,  what  can  be  the  reason  of  this  ?  In  our 
Lord's  personal  ministry,  the  Pharisees  were  the  great  op- 
ponents ;  in  the  apostles',  the  Sadducees  were  the  great 
opponents.  Proof  of  this  last  is  found  in  Acts  iv.  1 :  "  And 
as  they  spake  unto  the  people,  the  priests,  and  the  captain 
of  the  temple,  and  the  Sadducees,  came  upon  them."  Then 
again  in  Acts  v.  17  :  "  Tlien  the  high-priest  rose  up,  and  all 
they  that  were  with  him   (which  is  the  sect  of  the  Saddu- 


4G0  SCRIPTUIIE    READINGS. 

cees),  and  were  filled  with  indignation."  Why,  the  reason 
is  now  very  obvious.  The  Pharisees  held  the  truths  of  the 
Jewish  faith,  or  Christianity  in  figure  ;  but  the  Sadducees 
denied  the  existence  of  the  soul,  and  denied  the  resurrection 
from  the  dead.  Now  mark,  while  the  Lord  was  upon  the 
earth,  the  great  truth  that  he  taught  was  not  the  resur- 
rection, but  his  own  mission  and  the  forgiveness  of  sins 
through  his  blood,  his  sacrifice,  and  his  death.  The  Phari- 
sees opposed  this,  because  it  was  against  the  traditions  of  the 
fathers.  But  you  will  notice,  when  the  apostles  preached, 
in  the  Acts,  the  crowning  fact  that  they  constantly  appealed 
to  and  made  prominent  was,  that  "  Christ  is  risen  from  the 
dead,  and  is  the  first-fruits  of  them  that  slept."  You  will 
see,  therefore,  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  the  peculiar 
preaching  of  the  apostles  —  so  peculiar  that  -the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  dead  was  a  distinguishing  and  prominent  tenet, 
as  being  a  proof  that  Christ  was  the  Messiah  ;  and  the  Sad- 
ducees, who  denied  the  resurrection,  silent  in  the  Gospels 
while  their  own  dogmas  are  not  touched,  now  break  out  in 
the  Acts,  and  oppose  the  preachers  of  a  doctrine  which  they 
believed  to  be  no  doctrine  of  truth  at  all.  Now,  this  is 
another  latent  proof  of  the  reality  of  the  narrative,  and  of 
the  truthfulness  of  all  that  is  written. 

I  will  give  you,  in  conclusion,  and  with  which  I  end  the 
subject  we  have  been  considering,  two  or  three  remarks  that 
are  confirmed  by  Josephus,  the  Jewish  historian.  In  the 
Gospel  of  St.  Matthew  (ii.  3)  we  read :  "  AYhen  Herod  the 
king  had  heard  these  things,  he  was  troubled."  Then,  at 
the  7th  verse  of  the  same  chapter :  "  Then  Herod,  when  he 
had  privily  called  the  wise  men,  inquired  of  them  diligently 
what  time  the  star  appeared.  And  he  sent  them  to  Bethle- 
hem, and  said.  Go  and  search  diligejitly  for  the  young  child ; 
and  when  ye  have  found  him,  bring  me  word  again,  that  I 
may  come  and  worship  him  also."  Now,  what  is  indicated 
here  ?     That  Herod  was  in  some  state  of  alarm  ;  he  heard 


COINCIDENCES    IN    THE    FOUU    GOSPELS.  4G1 

that  a  king  was  born  to  the  Jews :  he  held  his  throne  by  a 
very  precarious  tenure ;  and  we  should  infer  that  he  was  a 
man  of  a  very  anxious  mind  —  anxious,  partly  from  his 
sense  of  guilt,  partly  from  the  structure  of  his  mind ;  and, 
therefore,  on  two  occasions  we  read  of  here,  he  was  troubled 
when  he  heard  of  these  things,  gathered  together  the  chief 
priests  and  scribes,  and  demanded  of  them  where  Christ 
should  be  born.  And,  again  :  "■  When  he  had  privily  called 
unto  him  the  wise  men,  he  inquired  of  them  diligently  "  — 
evidently,  with  anxious  curiosity.  Now,  when  we  open  the 
pages  of  Josephus,  the  Jewish  historian,  for  a  sketch,  we 
find  him  described  in  this  way :  that  Herod,  before  his  ele- 
vation to  the  throne,  sent  for  a  prophet,  reputed  to  be  a 
prophet,  and  inquired  of  him  whether  he  ever  should  be 
king,  and  should  succeed  to  the  throne.  He  w'as  told,  Yes. 
After  he  was  seated  on  the  throne,  and  all  seemed  perfectly 
safe,  he  sent  for  this  person  again,  says  Josephus,  and  in- 
quired how  long  he  should  live,  —  how  long  he  should  reign, 
and  occupy  that  throne.  You  see,  therefore,  from  this  sim- 
ple statement  of  Josephus,  —  altogether  distinct  from  the 
New  Testament  narrative,  —  that  Herod  was,  from  some 
reason,  a  man  of  an  extremely  anxious  mind,  afraid  that  he 
should  lose  his  throne ;  and  willing  to  consult  anybody  and 
everybody  that  would  give  him  some  assurance  that  he 
should  live  and  die  a  king.  Now,  how  thoroughly  .does  this 
fall  in  with  and  confirm  what  is  recorded  by  St.  Matthew  of 
the  anxiety  of  Herod,  when  he  heard  of  some  one  who  was 
born  who  should  be  king  of  the  Jews. 

Again,  in  Matthew  ii.  19,  we  read  as  follows  :  "  But  when 
Herod  was  dead,  behold,  an  angel  of  the  Lord  appeareth  in 
a  dream  to  Joseph  in  Egypt,  saying,  Arise,  and  take  the 
young  child  and  his  mother,  and  go  into  the  land  of  Israel  : 
ibr  they  are  dead  "  —  that  is,  Herod  —  "  which  sought  the 
young  child's  life.  And  he  arose,  and  took  the  young  child 
and  his  mother,  and  came  into  the  land  of  Israel.    But  when 

3y* 


462  SCRIPTURE    KEADIXGS. 

lie  heard  that  Archelaus  did  reign  in  Judaea  in  the  room  of  his 
father  Herod,  he  was  afraid  to  go  tliither."  Now,  this  seems 
strange  to  us,  when  he  was  told  that  Herod,  the  persecutor 
of  the  infant  Jesus,  was  dead,  and  that  he  might  now  go  to 
the  land  of  Judtea,  he  learns  by  the  way  that  Archelaus  was 
the  successor  of  Herod,  and  now  reigned  in  his  country  :  and 
the  moment  he  heard  this,  upon  his  way  to  Jerusalem,  we 
are  told  that  he  refused,  or  at  least  was  afraid,  to  go  thither, 
as  he  had  been  commanded.  Now,  if  we  restrict  ourselves 
to  the  sacred  narrative,  we  cannot  understand  why  he  should 
have  been  afraid  of  Archelaus,  while  he  had  apparently,  as 
far  as  it  goes,  no  evidence  that  Archelaus  Avas  a  persecutor. 
But  when  we  open  the  pages  of  Josephus,  there  comes  out 
a  fact  that  shows  how  well  founded  was  the  fear  of  Joseph, 
and  how  true  this  chapter  is,  how  true  to  circumstances,  that 
records  this  fear.  For  we  read  in  Josephus,  that  Archelaus, 
on  his  accession  to  the  throne,  put  to  death  two  Jews  who 
removed  the  golden  eagle  from  a  prominent  place  in  the 
Jewish  temple,  being,  as  they  thought,  a  desecration  ;  and 
for  this  simple  act  they  were  put  to  death  by  Archelaus. 
Such  murmurs  arose  among  the  people  against  the  cruelty 
of  Archelaus,  putting  to  death  two  Jews  who  had  only  done 
what  they  felt  it  their  duty  to  do,  that  Archelaus,  to  put 
down  their  murmurs,  ordered  out  a  body  of  cavalry,  at  the 
great  Passover,  and  slaughtered  without  mercy  three  thou- 
sand Jews.  Now,  when  did  this  occur  ?  Just  at  the  very 
moment  that  Archelaus  succeeded  to  the  throne.  Joseph 
had  heard  that  Herod  was  dead,  and  he  learns  by  the  Avay 
that  his  successor  was  Archelaus  ;  and  he  learned  also  by 
the  way  the  fact  that  had  just  taken  place  at  the  very  ac- 
cession of  Archelaus  —  that  he  had  been  guilty  of  such  mur- 
derous cruelty ;  and  he  naturally  feared  that  the  young  child 
would  meet  with  a  worse  recejjtion  fi-om  Archelaus  than 
even  from  Herod,  if  Herod  had  continued  on  the  throne 
still.     You  see,  then,  how  true  to  fact  each  passage  is  ;  and 


COINCIDENCES    IN    THE    FOUR    GO.Sl'ELS.  463 

what  indirect  evidence  it  is  of  the  authenticity,  and  truthful- 
ness, and  I'eahty  of  these  narratives. 

One  more,  and  I  have  done.  It  is  in  the  Gospel  of  St. 
Mark,  v,  11.  AVe  read  in  the  1st  verse,  "And  they  came 
over  the  other  side  of  the  sea,  into  the  country  of  the  Gada- 
renes."  Then  go  on  to  the  11th  verse:  "  Now  there  was 
there  "  —  that  is,  in  the  country  of  the  Gadavenes,  —  "  nigh 
unto  the  mountains,  a  great  herd  of  swine  feeding."  It  has 
been  objected,  and  with  great  apparent  plausibility,  by  acute 
minds,  that  this  narrative  cannot  be  true,  because  the  Jews 
were  forbidden  to  keep  swine.  Certainly,  no  swine  were 
allowed  in  the  Jewish  country  at  all,  or  wherever  in  Pales- 
tine the  Jews  were.  Well,  the  answer  that  has  been  often 
given  to  this  difficulty  has  been,  that  the  Jews  had  employed 
some  Gentiles  to  keep  the  swine  for  them.  But  that  does 
not  meet  the  difficulty,  because  the  real  difficulty  lies  in  this 
—  that  the  Jews  were  prohibited  from  keeping  swine  at  all 
in  their  own  country,  directly  or  indirectly.  We  should  not 
be  able  to  find  out  the  true  reason,  if  we  had  not  the  history 
of  Josephus  to  go  to  ;  and  accordingly  Josephus  says,  that 
Joppa  and  Jerusalem  were  subject  to  Archelaus  —  that  is, 
the  king  I  have  spoken  of;  —  that  these  were  Jewish  prov- 
inces ;  but  that  Gadara,  being  a  Greek  city,  was  annexed  to 
Caesar.  Now,  at  once  the  reason  comes  out :  Gadara  was  a 
Greek  city,  was  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Ca;sar,  was  not 
under  that  of  Archelaus  ;  and  therefore  it  was  lawful  to 
keep  swine  in  a  Gentile  city,  while  it  was  unlawful  to  do  so 
in  a  Jewish  one. 

Now,  what  does  all  this  teach  us  ?  That  when  we  meet 
with  difficulties  in  the  Avord  of  God,  we  must  not  suppose 
they  arc  contradictions,  because  we  cannot  see  harmony. 
If  we  had  never  read  this  in  the  historian  Josephus,  we 
could  have  never  been  able  to  meet  the  dilficulty,  how  swine 
could  have  been  kept  in  a  Jewish  country.  Or  if  you  had 
never  read  in  Josephus,  that  Archelaus  was  guilty  of  such 


JEWETT   &    COMPANY   BOSTON,    AND   CLEVELAND,    OHIO. 

WRITINGS 

OP 

REV.    JOSEPH    P.     THOMPSON, 

©f     NZVJ    Y  ©  K  K  = 


EGYPT,    PAST    AND     PRESENT. 

In  one  elegant  12mo  volume,  with 

Cfajetttg  f«U-jp^H0e  Ulttstrations,  ^usrabb  i^passlg  for  llj£  foork. 

Price   $1.00. 

This  is  by  far  the  cheapest,  and  as  finely-written  and  reliable  a 
work  as  has  ever  appeared  on  Egypt. 


NOTICES       OF      "THE       RRESS. 

"  A  more  Interesting,  spicy  booli  of  travels  we  have  not  seen  in  a  long  time."  — 
Eastern  Argus. 

"  Here  is  a  good  booli,  which  we  have  read  with  pleasure  and  pro&V'  — Evening 
Mirror,  Xew  York. 

"An  extremely  entertaining  and  instructive  volume."  — Daily  News,  Phila. 

"  This  is  a  volume  full  of  Interest,  and  illustrated  with  numerous  engravings  of 
the  highest  excellence."  —  Evening  Transcript,  Boston. 

"  The  author  of  this  booli  of  Travels  will  he  recognized  as  one  of  the  editors  of 
the  New  Yorlt  Independent,  who  went  abroad  for  his  health.  Mr.  Thompson  Is  a 
man  of  fine  habits  of  observation,  possesses  a  lively  mind,  and  is  a  graphic  writer. 
Besides,  he  is  a  man  ^ho  linows  whereof  he  writes,  and  one  who  writes  from  a 
Christian  stand-point.  From  the  amount  of  ancient,  profane  and  sacred  history 
with  which  he  brings  his  observations  into  association,  his  work  is  as  instructive 
as  it  is  interesting."  —  Springfield  ReimUican. 

"  This  Is  decidedly  the  most  instructive  and  satisfactory  boolj,  respecting  Egypt 
and  everything  appertaining  to  that  old  and  interesting  country,  that  we  have 
ever  met  with."  —  Lutheran  Observer,  Baltimore. 


i-5- 


•+! 


TALUABLE  BOOKS,   PUBLISUED   BY 


%\)t  giwpstatt  gip  0f  ixntt. 


LOUIS  XIV. 

AND 

THE     WRITERS     OF     HIS     AQE, 
BY    REV.    J.    F.    ASTIE. 

Infrobtttlion  nn'ii   ^xnn&lutian 

iB.Y  REV.  E.  N.  KIRK. 
In  one  volume,  12mo.     Price  $1.00. 


The  following  discriminating  notice  of  this  elegant  work  is  from 
the  Editor  of  the  Evening  Traveller,  Boston. 

"  A  work  of  high  Interest,  and  which  we  have  penised  with  the  greatest  satisfac- 
tion. Of  Louis  the  Fourteenth  himself  but  little  is  said  ;  but  a  very  Just  estimate 
of  the  Grand  Monarque's  character  is  given  ;  and  the  author,  who  is  evidently  a 
ripe  scholar,  then  proceeds  in  a  tone  of  flue,  genial  criticism,  to  lay  before  us  the 
merits  of  the  principal  chefs  (VcPMvres  of  the  great  writers  of  that  period  —  Pascal, 
CorneiUe,  Fenelon,  La  Fontaine,  Boileau,  Racine  and  Mollere.  We  scarcely  know 
which  most  to  admire,  the  beauties  of  those  authors  brought  under  our  notice,  or 
tlie  admirable  taste  displayed  by  the  lecturer  in  his  selection.  His  review  of  Pas- 
cal's celebrated  Provincial  Letters,  which  show  up  in  their  undisguised  enormity 
the  doctrines  and  policy  of  the  Jesuits,  should  be  read  by  all  who  candidly  desire 
true  information  on  that  subject.  Indeed,  the  whole  work  has  given  us  delight, 
and  we  feel  satisfied  that,  than  these  lectures,  it  woiild  be  impossible  to  have  any 
better  introduction  to  the  study  of  French  literature  as  existing  in  what  has  been 
termed  the  Aiigustan  age  of  France.  The  translation  appears  to  have  been  very 
faithfully  made  by  Mr.  Kirk,  who  has  displayed  his  talents  in  a  new  department, 
by  rendering  the  French  poetry  with  wtilch  the  lectures  are  interspersed,  Into 
English  rhyme." 

"  It  is  a  book  to  go  upon  the  '  first-rate'  literary  shelf."  —  Congregationalist,  Bost. 

"This  is  imquestionably  one  of  the  most  valuable  additions  to  our  higher  liter- 
ature that  has  been  given  to  the  public  oilaie."  —  Evening  Telegraph,  Boston. 

"  It  unfolds  to  us  more  fully  than  any  other  work  we  remember  to  have  seen 
the  vast  power  which  characterized  French  literature  at  a  certain  period."  — 
Christian  Observer,  Philadelphia. 

5J+.- ^,+sm 


MOTHERS   OF   THE   BIBLE. 

B  T 

MRS.   S.   G.    ASHTON. 

WITH 

AN     INTKODUCTION     BY     KEV.    A.    L.    STONE. 

Plain  cloth,  $1.25  ;  gUt,  $1.75  ;  calf,  gilt,  $2.50. 


"  This  volume  commends  itself  to  our  favor  when  we  notice  the  name  of  the 
writer  of  the  introduction.  "We  entertam  for  Mr.  Stone  the  most  profound  respect. 
As  a  wi-iter,  he  has  peculiar  merit ;  and  in  all  respects  he  is  a  man.  His  com- 
mendation would  give  us  confidence  to  endorse  any  worli  he  had  examined.  The 
'  Mothers '  are  described  with  a  good  deal  of  feeling,  and  with  power,  and  perhaps 
we  might  say,  with  genius  ;  for  the  author  is  quicli  in  detecting  character  from 
trifling  incidents.  The  book  will  interest  every  lover  of  the  Bible.  In  the  execu- 
tion of  the  work,  the  publishers  deserve  all  praise.  Mr.  Jewett  has  here  given  us 
the  handsomest  volume,  for  the  price,  we  have  ever  seen."— PioM^ft,  ioo»»ajKZ 
Anvil,  JV.  r. 

"A  valuable  as  well  as  a  beautiful  book.  It  contains  accounts  of  the  women  of 
the  scripture  who  brought  up  children,  and  its  object  is  to  show  what  are  the  best 
and  most  scriptural  modes  of  educating  the  young.  It  will  please  our  religious 
readers,  and  suggest  many  useful  ideas  to  molhers."  —  Vailn  Courant,  Hartford. 

"  Here  is  a  charming  book  which  every  Christian  mother  should  possess."  — 
IjuI.  Democrat,  Concord. 

"  An  invaluable  volume,  a  precious  offering,  which  we  trust  will  find  its  way  to 
many  a  youthful  hand,  to  many  a  maternal  bosom."  — American  Courier. 

"  The  author  has  a  noble  theme,  and  faithfully  has  it  been  unfolded  and  en- 
forced."— Christian  Chronicle,  Philadelphia. 

"  It  is  such  a  book  that  no  one  hut  a  lady  could  have  written,  and  such  an  one 
as  no  lady  can  fail  to  enjoy  in  Teniiins-"  —  Svening  Traveller,  Boston. 

"It  is  the  product  of  a  beautiful  mind,  evidently  tinder  the  guidance  of  a  truly 
Christian  and  devout  sp'mt."  —  Puritan  Recorder. 

"  It  is  a  good  book,  and  will  repay  more  than  one  reading  by  all  upon  whom  rests 
T  the  Joyful  responsibility  of  maternity."  — Congregationalist. 

T 

m^^ -»!^ia 

10 


BS2615.C971 

Sabbath  evening  readings  on  the  New 

llliriii nil INlf"'""'"'  Se-^'i^^y-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00064  6853 


IB  15  ;2] 

-^  PB'd^ 

I 

•iQ    ■■■  -■-    Hx 

\ 

1 

! 

^ 

2087OC„   1991 

11-13-07  321B0     MC  ^ 


